ERLING HAALAND BACK FROM INJURY, UP FOR SELECTION AGAINST BURNLEY
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has confirmed that superstar striker Erling Haaland is back fit and is up for selection against Burnley on Wednesday night.
Last year’s Premier League golden boot winner, Haaland has been out with a foot injury since December, and has missed the last ten Manchester City games across all competitions as a result. The Norwegian has, however, returned to training and is now expected to feature against club legend Vincent Kompany’s Burnley side, who travel to Manchester to play the defending champions in league play.
“Yeah, apparently he [Haaland] will be selected,” said Guardiola in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday. “For the first time, he’s back. Well, we have all the squad, we are stronger, definitely. Erling is an important player for us. He has been two months out, a long time but he feels good. We have a training session [without him today] but apparently tomorrow he will be with us.”
Haaland’s return is a huge boost for Guardiola and Manchester City who are currently sitting in second place on the Premier League table, five points behind leaders Liverpool. They do however, have one game in hand and should be excited by the return of their most prolific goalscorer. The 23-year-old has scored 14 goals for Manchester City this season and notched 4 assists in the 15 games he’s played thus far. He also boasts the best goals per 90 ratio in the league.
The Citizens were also boosted by the return of Belgian midfielder Kevin De Bruyne a few weeks ago after having spent five months on the sidelines with a hamstring injury, and look almost fully ready to attack the second half of the season. Guardiola carefully managed De Bryune’s minutes as he came back and was asked if he’d do the same thing with Haaland.
“Well, one was muscular and required surgery while his [Haaland’s] was stress on the bone,” said Guardiola. “So, it’s a completely different approach. But of course, step by step.”
Including Haaland, other Manchester City players that are back in contention to start against Burnley are center back John Stones, who is recovering from an ankle injury, and defender Manuel Akanji who has been sidelined in recent weeks with a knee issue.
Speaking to the press, Guardiola expressed relief that most of his players were now back saying “The most important news is almost all the squad are fit. We don’t have injuries. Manu [Akanji] is back, [and he’s] training well. He doesn’t feel his knee [injury]. John [Stones] as well. That is the best news.”
“The most important part of the season starts now. FA Cup, the Champions League is around the corner and of course the Premier League. It’s important that we have everyone available.”
Despite the recent resignation announcements by some of the most prominent football managers in Europe over the last few weeks, Pep also confirmed to the media that he isn’t thinking about leaving Manchester City at the moment.
Guardiola made a joke about extending his contract last week as news of his long-time Premier League rival, Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp came out that he’d be leaving the Merseyside club. Barcelona boss and club legend Xavi Hernandez also announced last week that he was stepping away from the Spanish giants after the season.
“I’ve said it many times, I have everything a manager could dream of,” said Guardiola. “I have everything. The hierarchy supports me and I have always… we’ve changed a lot of players in [the past] seven years but all of them have been incredible, supportive, [we have a] good environment, so I have everything. Still, I feel good and, of course, one day it’s going to finish but I don’t think about that right now.”
City will play Burnley on Wednesday before hitting the road vs. Brentford on Monday night then returning home to play Everton at the Etihad the following Saturday. The Sky Blues then open their Champions League defense in the knockout stages against Copenhagen on the 13th of February.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: pantkiewicz. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.