UNFORTUNATELY, it was too good to last. The arrival of baby faced Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Manchester United must have persuaded Alex Ferguson that he had signed a saint after years of dealing with sinners such as Paul Ince and Roy Keane.

Here was a player of modesty and intelligence, who lived a virtuous life off the field and was scoring lots of goals on it. The only black spot on his character was a love of Guns n Roses.

And what did the silly boy do? On Wednesday he went and signed as his personal manager the disgraced agent Rune Hauge, the other man at the centre of the George Graham bung scandal, who could face a jail term for fraud back in Norway over the sale of players to Arsenal and Nottingham Forest and is currently banned by FIFA from being an agent.

If Solksjaer was fed up with his saintly image, he has stained it now: he is an angel with a dirty face. Which is a pity. Because until now Solksjaer has been a running and shooting advertisement for living a life as saintly as his looks.

"He is one of a new breed of Norwegian players coming up," says his former coach Aage Hareide, "They are very ambitious, want to work on their game, and their lifestyle is for a sportsman. They take care of themselves, get enough sleep, eat the right things and make sure their stamina is okay.

"Ole Gunnar is also very quiet, does not go to discos and clubs and when he's celebrating he'll buy some coke and chips, take them home and relax. In all my years in the game, he is the best player I've had to train: he listens, he works on his game all the time.

"He is also down to earth, mixes well and is a very, very nice bloke. And there's his face, y'know - Solksjaer means something about the sun and that's the way he is."

Ferguson expected the 23 year old to take at least six months to bed in after his £1.5 million summer signing from Hareide's club Molde. But five goals in eight games has surprised everyone but the T shirt makers. "Baby faced assassin" is currently one of the hottest selling lines.

"He's been a revelation and surprised us all," says Ferguson. "He's got lightning feet and is a marvellous striker of the ball. He's made all the players sit up in training and take note of his technique and finishing."

Apart from owning the fastest feet in the west - Eric Cantona likens him to Papin in this department - various experts score him highly in work rate, mobility, skill with his back to goal, sniffing a chance, first touch and balance, which he probably gets from his father, a former Norwegian wrestling champion.

One of his main weaknesses is that at 5ft 9ins he gets knocked off the ball too easily. Predictably he is working on that.

Harder to handle is the adoring publicity. "I'm embarrassed. I don't feel I deserve all the praise. The reason I have made such a good start at United is because I am in such a wonderful team. I feel I'm still an apprentice here with so much more to learn."

He may be unassuming but he knows what he wants to play his beloved football to the highest level. When Molde, of the Norwegian Premier division, wanted to buy him from the neighbouring third division club Clausengen in 1993, Solksjaer declined.

"He insisted on playing on for his local club for another couple of years just to make sure he was ready to play in the top division here," says Hareide. "That's the way he is, very responsible."

His opening goal glut at United is nothing new. When he broke into the Norwegian Olympic side in 1994, he scored four goals in his first six games. That got the Norweigan clubs buzzing around him before his loyalty took him to Molde for just £15,000 in January 1995.

He scored five in his first two games for them last season and four in his first six games for the full Norway side. And though he played only 18 months for Molde, he scored 20 league goals in 26 games in his last season there.

Then came the big move this summer, when United, who had first spotted him in the Olympic side, beat Tottenham, Cagliari and Hamburg to his signature by offering £1.5 million.

"We just couldn't turn it down," says Hareide. "But I also know the people at United, and the way Alex Ferguson works with young boys is very impressive. I spoke to Alex about him and I know he went to the right club."

Not surprisingly, the player is pretty happy too. He has just moved into a plush new house with his girlfriend Silje, has been enthusiastically embraced by his new team mates, especially Cantona whom he singles out as being of particular help, and, well, he just cannot really believe what has happened.

"It all seems a dream," he says. "But I love the football here, playing with these great players, and Old Trafford is my favourite ground. I'm never going to leave."

Unfortunately, football comes complete with downs as well as ups, and for strikers that means unexplained and sudden periods without scoring. The added problem for Solskjaer is that, because of the Norwegian season, he has not had a break from football since January. So come the winter he could well find the going tough.

Again, predictably, Solksjaer is already aware of this. "I will do my best to make sure I don't have a dry spell in front of goal, but in football you just never know. I am very pleased I have made an early impact, but if I don't play in the next match I won't complain."

One wonders how long that will last now Hauge is around.