5 hours Ago By [email protected] (Matthew Abbott)
Everton had Erling Haaland visit Finch Farm as a teenager with then director of football Steve Walsh, only for Farhad Moshiri to reject any potential transfer reputedly Aaron Lennon claims Everton could have signed a teenage Erling Haaland for as little as £2million had Farhad Moshiri approved the deal Steve Walsh was hopeful of happening. Haaland is said to have visited Finch Farm with Walsh when around 15 or 16 years old, with Lennon meeting the youngster while an Everton player. The striker was still playing in Norway at the time, either at boyhood club Bryne or Molde, the latter of whom he signed at age 16.
During Lennon's time at the club, Everton instead signed Dominic Calvert-Lewin for a comparable fee and spent considerably more on Cenk Tosun, Oumar Niasse and Sandro Ramirez. The winger, though, recalls the one who got away. "I remember Erling Haaland walking in the building with Steve Walsh, coming up to me in the physio room.
Steve Walsh introduced him to me like, 'Oh look, Aaron, we've got Haaland, you know his dad Alfie? The Leeds boy. Hopefully, we're going to have him here,'" Lennon said on BBC Radio 5 Live . "I was like, 'Oh wow!' I'd not heard much of him.
I think he was 15 or 16 years old, and I never saw him again. "I think they could have had him for two or three million. I think Moshiri didn't sign off on that, and can you imagine, Haaland would have signed for Everton.
" Walsh has previously shared his version of the story; speaking to The Athletic in 2019, the club's former director of football claimed: "I had him and his dad at the club with a deal done for €4million (£3.4m). The club wouldn't back me.
" Moshiri replaced Walsh with Marcel Brands at the end of the 2017/18 season. The former Leicester City scout is now a special advisor at Major League Soccer club Charlotte, who former Aston Villa head coach Dean Smith is now in charge of.
