Pep Guardiola clarifies Erling Haaland’s injury confusion: “Stress on the bone”

Ever since coming to England, Erling Haaland has arguably been the most elite player in the league, who has been ever present, scoring goals, and breaking records all along. Erling Haaland recently became the fastest player to score 50 goals in the Premier League and has hardly missed a lot of minutes.

However, Haaland faces injury woes ahead of a very busy December schedule, as the striker was not available for Manchester City’s trip to Luton Town, where the Citizens managed to get over the line by winning 2-1. Man City boss Pep Guardiola has revealed that the nature of the injury is a bit of “stress on the bone” for Haaland.

Pep Guardiola clarifies Erling Haaland’s injury

Pep Guardiola and Manchester City will breathe a sigh of relief as City finally win a Premier League game after a full month, ending what Guardiola called a “normal” bad run. However, all the problems have not left them, as their star man Erling Haaland missed the Luton Town game due to an injury.

Guardiola clarified that Haaland’s injury, which he incurred while playing against Aston Villa, is not a fracture or very serious in nature, but the striker is just feeling a bit of stress on the bone, which is why he had to be kept out of the matchday squad.

Guardiola, while talking to the press, denied any serious injury, saying, “The day after [Villa game] he almost could not walk properly. Yesterday I spoke with him and he said he was feeling much, much better, that he could walk without pain.”

When will Erling Haaland return from injury?

Erling Haaland was close to missing a game through suspension, but he escaped punishment for his conduct against Tottenham. However, the striker will now inevitably miss a couple of games due to injury.

Guardiola, on Erling Haaland’s probable return, said that they will have to wait and see. He stated, “He was not ready today, I don’t think so for Crystal Palace [on Saturday] but hopefully he can be ready in Saudi Arabia”. 

He further added, “The doctor says we have to see week by week, day by day how it will get better. Maybe he will be ready for Crystal Palace, I don’t think so but we will see”.

Pep Guardiola would be desperate to have his main man ready and fit for the City’s first ever Club World Campaign in Saudi Arabia and remains optimistic that Haaland will be back by then. City start their CWC journey on 19th December and will face either Mexico’s Club Leon or Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds.

Do you think Manchester City are strong enough to win the Club World Cup without Erling Haaland? Let us know in the comment section.