Erling Haaland says he ‘felt sorry’ for Robert Lewandowski during Bayern Munich pursuit

Erling Haaland has admitted he felt sorry for Robert Lewandowski after Bayern Munich’s failed attempts to land star striker Haaland as a replacement for the Pole.

The Norwegian hot-shot was on Bayern’s radar earlier this year during his time at Borussia Dortmund, where he scored an incredible 86 goals in just 89 games.

The prolific 22-year-old impressed club chiefs so much by his Bundesliga performances that they tried to lure the new Manchester City striker to the Allianz Arena earlier this year.

Speaking in a new documentary about his summer transfer to City titled – Haaland: The Big Decision – Erling and his father Alfie have revealed that Bayern did try to sign the goal-scorer, but that the former found the Bavarian club’s behaviour a little disrespectful to then-Bayern attacker Lewandowski.

“If I try to imagine how Lewandowski thinks… I don’t know how many goals and titles he has for the club,” Haaland Junior said. “Then I do actually feel a little sorry for him. At the same time it’s a chance for him to take the next step in his career. It feels disrespectful, but at the same time it is an opportunity for him.”

“They have shown interest, they have,” Alfie said of Bayern. “I understand that they want to protect themselves. If he doesn’t end up there they will say ‘it was never on the agenda, we already have the best striker.”

A release clause in the striker’s BVB contract meant he was available for a cut-price, essentially giving him his choice of Europe’s elite, with the team from Bavaria in that bracket.

The interest unsurprisingly annoyed Bayern and the Bundesliga’s all-time second-highest scorer, Lewandowski, who left the side this summer for Barcelona with 344 goals in 375 games, eight league titles, and a European treble.

The Polish striker had begun agitating for a move away from the Allianz Arena and his agent, Pini Zahavi, confirmed it was in part due to Haaland.

“Robert is a very intelligent person,” Zahavi told BILD. “Not just the best striker in the world.

“He knows exactly what is happening around him and what FC Bayern had planned. So Robert knew all along that Bayern wanted to replace him with Haaland. The football world is big, but there are no secrets.”

Ultimately Haaland joined City, and a couple of months later Lewandowski did indeed take the next step in his career.

Both have enjoyed fruitful starts to life at their new clubs; Haaland has scored 10 goals in six league outings for City, while Lewandowski has found the net five times in four games.