Erling Braut Haaland allegedly never had any intention of signing for Manchester United in the January transfer window.
During the early days of 2020, it was confirmed that Borussia Dortmund had won the race to sign the highly-regarded youngster.
While United were also attempting to secure a deal for the Norway international, it has now been suggested that the Premier League giants were never viewed as genuine contenders.
Sky Sports' Kaveh Solhekol said: "On Haaland, I got a couple of messages from an agent last week who wanted to correct me for something I had said on The Transfer Show.
"He was watching and messaged me while we were on air. We had been discussing United's search for a striker and I made the wholly unoriginal point that they should have paid whatever it took to sign Haaland - the same Haaland who has scored seven times in his first three games for Borussia Dortmund.
"He told me that United had no chance of signing Haaland. He said he had known the striker since he was a five-year-old boy and it had always been his dream to play in Germany."
While Haaland possesses a long-term contract with Dortmund, the frontman reportedly has a release clause which can be activated at the end of the 2020-21 campaign.