Manchester United are in pole position to sign Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland

Manchester United are in pole position to sign Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland when his £64million release clause becomes available next summer, say reports.

The Norwegian striker scored 41 goals in 41 games for the German club last summer and was wanted by Chelsea, Manchester City and Real Madrid earlier this year, as revealed by Sportsmail in March.

European champions Chelsea reportedly put in a cash-plus-player bid for Haaland which Dortmund are said to have rebuffed as it was not near their £150million valuation for the player.

And according to German news outlet BILD, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side are the frontrunners for Haaland for when his release clause kicks in, which can be activated by the player’s agent Mino Raiola.

Raiola has several links to United, with Red Devils midfielder Paul Pogba a client of the Italian super-agent, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan are other players owned the representative who have completed Old Trafford moves recently.

Mkhitaryan is also one of three Dortmund players to have made the switch to Old Trafford in recent years, with Shinji Kagawa and new £73million signing Jadon Sancho moving either side of the Armenian midfielder.

Haaland also has close links with current United boss Solskjaer, with the pair working together at Molde when the striker spent two years there between 2017 and 2019.

The 21-year-old has since become one of the top centre-forwards in world football following his rise at Red Bull Salzburg and Dortmund, where he is expected to stay for the forthcoming season.

Haaland has begun this campaign with five goals in four matches in all competitions, with current Dortmund boss Marco Rose acting bullish over the German club’s chances of keeping him at Signal Iduna Park beyond the summer.

‘He still has a long-term contract with us. Just because the public is constantly talking about him leaving next summer, that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case,’ Rose told Sport Bild.

‘In the end, Erling has to decide for himself where he sees his future. In any case, we are happy that he is currently playing for us – and, who knows, possibly it’ll be even more than just one season if we write an extraordinary story here.’

Haaland’s overall Dortmund record stands at 62 goals in 63 matches and helped the Bundesliga side win the German Cup last season.