Avoiding the Bellingham and Haaland mistakes, Man United must go all in for Chris Rigg.

Man United has recruited many potential young stars in recent times but has also missed out on quite a few.

After success in the battle to sign Luke Shaw and Diogo Dalot in the past, Man United beat Real Madrid to sign Leny Yoro in the summer of 2024 in a deal worth up to £58.9 million.

However, there are many outstanding players they have missed over the years, especially in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era. Now, Man United regrets seeing Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland reach world-class levels elsewhere.

In 2020, Bellingham, then just 16, toured Man United’s training ground. But as we know, the midfielder later left Birmingham City to move to Germany and play for Borussia Dortmund. Since then, he has unlocked his full potential and is now considered one of the best players in Europe at Real Madrid.

Around the same time, under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Man United did not sign Erling Haaland from Molde and later RB Salzburg. It’s worth remembering that the striker had scored 20 goals in Norway and 29 more in 27 games for Salzburg before moving to Dortmund, just like Bellingham.

“Jude was in the building. I was there, Sir Alex Ferguson was there, Bryan Robson, and Eric Cantona were all present the day he came to the club,” Solskjaer told the Stick to Football podcast. “We all spoke with him. He knew how many minutes he wanted to play in the first team. At the time, Jude was 17, but he was the most mature 17-year-old I’ve ever met—he had planned everything.”

About Haaland, the former United manager added, “I had Erling at Molde for two seasons. The summer before I joined Man United, I called the club and said, ‘You have to sign this kid—he’s going to reach the highest level.’ That was in June or July 2018. Then they said no—they had enough reports on the players.

Then, I became United’s caretaker manager, and Molde sold Haaland to RB Salzburg. I told the club to buy Haaland immediately when he had a release clause. €20 million would have been a bargain.”

Haaland continued his goal-scoring habit at Dortmund and recently scored his 100th goal for Man City in his 105th match for the Etihad side.

Man United doesn’t have time to dwell on past mistakes. Now, under a completely different regime, they are eager to correct those errors. Occasionally, a young player breaks through in the lower leagues, and there’s a sense that he will become a superstar. Chris Rigg of Sunderland is that player. And now, the Red Devils cannot afford to let such a gem slip away.

The 17-year-old has made 32 appearances for the Black Cats after debuting for the first team at 15 years, 6 months, and 14 days old in January 2023. Man United is determined to sign Rigg, who has been compared to the likes of Bryan Robson or Roy Keane. TalkSPORT claims that the Old Trafford side might make a move as early as January.”