Star striker Erling Haaland is expected to be out injured by English soccer champions Manchester City until the end of January. Coach Pep Guardiola announced this before the Premier League game at Newcastle United (6.30 p.m./Sky). The 23-year-old striker from Norway has been out for the defending champions for a month due to an injury to his foot.
“It’s the bone. It takes time,” Guardiola said. “Hopefully he’ll be ready at the end of the month. It’s a little more than we expected at the beginning,” added the former Bayern coach, referring to the downtime. After the game in Newcastle, Guardiola’s team will have a 13-day break from play and will head to a training camp in Abu Dhabi. Haaland could get back into the game there now that the doctors have prescribed him a one-week break.
In his own words, Guardiola misses the former Borussia Dortmund attacker very much and hopes for his recovery. “Hopefully he can come back and play the last four or five months without any problems.” Haaland has already scored 19 goals in 22 games this season.
According to Guardiola, former Dortmund player Manuel Akanji will also be missing for a few weeks. The Swiss defender had to leave the field injured in the FA Cup win against Huddersfield a week ago and is also expected to be out until the end of January.
