Erling Haaland has been spending more time on the sidelines than he or Manchester City would have expected this season, and that seemingly set to continue into 2024.
The Norwegian striker has 14 Premier League goals to his name this season but that number would undoubtedly be higher were he able to stay off of the treatment table. His absence has come at the same time as a poor run of form for Man City, although they did come from behind and beat Everton in their penultimate game of 2023.
Julian Alvarez has been stepping up in Haaland’s absence and the depth of their squad means that they can generally cope with anything, but missing Haaland at the same time as Kevin De Bruyne is going to cause any club some trouble.
Here is the latest news about Haaland’s condition, his expected return, and what Pep Guardiola has to say about the matter.
Haaland has been missing from the Man City attack since the 1-0 loss against Aston Villa at the beginning of December. It has been a very busy month, meaning he has missed six matches across all competitions. Luckily for Man City, two of those were in the Club World Cup and another was a UEFA Champions League dead rubber against Red Star Belgrade.
He is suffering from a bone stress reaction in his foot which is clearly taking longer to heal than anyone connected to Man City would have liked.
Six games is going to become seven because Guardiola has ruled Haaland out of the Premier League clash with Sheffield United – Man City’s final game of the calendar year.
“Still he’s not with the team,” Guardiola told Amazon Prime after the 3-1 win away at Everton. “He feels better with his bone but he hasn’t made one training session with us. Unfortunately December is so congested with so many teams. January is so congested. Hopefully in January he can come back with us.”
Without Haaland, Man City find themselves fourth in the Premier League and five points off the top. They have a game in hand over Liverpool and Aston Villa thanks to the Club World Cup.
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