Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has revealed Erling Haaland struggled with injuries in the early stages of his career.

United are keen to sign Haaland and reunite him with Solskjaer, who coached the striker at Molde as a teenager.

And Solskjaer has opened up on his early days in Norway, describing how the youngster imposed himself against older opponents and teammates.

Asked on Sky Sportsif he realised what Haaland would become, Solskjaer said: "Yes. You can see the personality. He came as a 16-year-old, of course, you never know with injuries, he struggled really badly with bad knees when he came. But I could see someone with a personality.

"I remember him brushing off and putting our centre-back and centre midfielders, two big, massive lads, he put them on the floor and asked them to get up. He's a winner.

"He's got a great personality, of course. He's proving to everyone how good a player he is.

"We played against Zenit in the Europa League play-off and the referee came to me after and said, 'He'll play in the Champions League soon.' We did know.

"He's a top personality. I played with Alf (Haaland's father), he's a bit old school in that respect. He's a winner."

United and rivals Manchester City are set to gun it out for the Borussia Dortmund star this summer.