Erling Haaland missed Manchester City’s 2-1 win over Luton Town due to a bone stress reaction in his foot, although Pep Guardiola has yet to say how long the Norwegian attacker will be out.
Alfie Haaland has sparked concern. Erling Haaland will be out for a long period of time after selling his son on Fantasy Premier League.
According to X user @FPLFocal, the 51-year-old moved Pep Guardiola’s goalscoring phenomenon out of his lineup ahead of Manchester City’s 2-1 win at Luton on Sunday, putting in Newcastle’s Mohamed Salah and Alexander Isak.
Haaland’s brother Astor and fiancée Isabel Haugseng Johansen followed suit, implying that the Norwegian’s injury may be more serious than previously thought. The 23-year-old currently has a bone stress reaction in his foot.
Guardiola explained the issue ahead of his team’s valiant victory at Kenilworth Road: “After the last game against Aston Villa, he felt it and he cannot play. I don’t know [the length of the injury]. Week by week, day by day, we will see what happens. Erling has been so important since he’s arrived, that’s for sure. But during the season we see this sort of thing. Injuries, suspensions, problems, we have to adapt.”
City are hopeful that Haaland will be able to compete in the FIFA Club World Cup later this month in Saudi Arabia. The Premier League winners play Crvena Zvezda in Serbia on Wednesday before hosting Crystal Palace at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
After the match, City will not return to Premier League action until December 27 when they face Everton, which may have influenced Alfie Haaland’s decision.
Alfie Haaland has declined to captain Premier League golden boot winner Salah, who scored 13 points in Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Crystal Palace. He instead went with Isak, who struggled in Newcastle’s 4-1 loss to Tottenham on Sunday.
Mateo Kovacic, a City midfielder, believes his teammates must offer 20% more while Haaland is out. According to the Croatian: “Obviously we missed key players like Erling and Kevin, it’s never easy when you miss such big players. But they are not in the moment here, we need everybody to give 10, 20 per cent more like we did [on Sunday] and then we can win games.”
He later added: “The team was confident because we were playing good. We had not bad results, some draws where we could have won. This is football sometimes, then it’s about how you come back.
“Today we came back in a good way. A big three points. We showed overall great football, especially in the first half we played very well, we found a lot of players in the pockets which is what we want.”
