Subscribe to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter and receive it in your email for no cost.
Join Miguel Delaney’s weekly newsletter for free.
Pep Guardiola, manager of Manchester City, has stated that Erling Haaland is anticipated to be out of action until the end of January.
The productive striker from Norway has been absent from City’s past eight matches, including their victory in the Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia, due to a foot injury.
The city was anticipating the return of the 23-year-old in the beginning of the year, but the issue is causing more complications than anticipated and the player has not resumed full training yet.
It is expected that he will return to work with the club after their game this weekend and then travel to Abu Dhabi for a training camp in warmer weather.
Guardiola stated that the player has been experiencing some discomfort in his feet, and although it is not serious, the doctors have advised him to take a break for a week and potentially resume training in Abu Dhabi.
“By the end of this month, hopefully he will be prepared. The initial process took longer than anticipated.”
The bone requires time to heal. Despite trying various methods for injuries, time is still a crucial factor.
During his impressive debut season with City, Haaland scored a total of 52 goals. He has already scored 19 goals this season.
Guardiola believes that his team’s offensive abilities have been greatly lacking.
“We miss Erling a lot,” the Spaniard said. “We need him. Hopefully he can come back and play the last four or five months without a problem.
“When you get injured towards the end of November, you end up missing a significant amount of games. It is a challenging period.”
Unfortunately for City, defender Manuel Akanji is expected to be out of commission for a period of time.
The player from Switzerland had to leave the game early in the previous weekend’s FA Cup win against Huddersfield due to a strong tackle.
He is now added to the list of injured players, which includes centre-back John Stones.
Guardiola stated that the player will be out for a few weeks. It is not a major issue, but he will be unavailable until the end of the month.
“Fortunately, we have a break of 10 days after playing Newcastle. We will observe how they fare in the favorable climate of Abu Dhabi.”
Source: independent.co.uk
