Erling Haaland is expected to recover from his foot injury by the end of January, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has revealed.
Haaland, who scored 52 goals in his first season in English football as City won the treble in 2022-23, last appeared in the champions’ Premier League defeat to Aston Villa on December 6.
The striker was initially expected to return over the festive period but has now missed eight matches across all competitions, and Guardiola ruled him out of Saturday’s trip to Newcastle United at his pre-match press conference on Friday.
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City will head to Abu Dhabi for a warm-weather training camp after their trip to Tyneside, and Guardiola hopes Haaland will be able to return to training in the Gulf.
“It’s a little bit of a disturbing problem in his feet,” Guardiola said of Haaland’s injury. “It’s fine but the doctors decided to stop for one week and maybe restart in Abu Dhabi.
“Hopefully at the end of this month he’ll be ready. It was a little bit more than we expected in the beginning.
“It’s the bone. It needs time. With every injury you can do whatever you want but it’s a question of time.”
Following their winter break, City will play just two further fixtures in January, visiting Tottenham in the FA Cup on January 26 before hosting Burnley in the Premier League five days later.
Not a bad 2023 for @ERLINGHAALAND! 😮💨 PIC.TWITTER.COM/5PTZHMXEYN
— Manchester City (@ManCity) JANUARY 12, 2024
