Erling Haaland facing Man City axe after ‘surprise’ development – pundit
Erling Haaland will be omitted from the Man City starting XI over the next few weeks despite his incredible goalscoring form.
That’s according to former Leeds United striker Noel Whelan, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the Man City striker’s injury record.
Sources told Football Insider on 29 September that the club are minutely planning Haaland’s training to avoid a repeat of the injuries he suffered in his final season at Borussia Dortmund.
The Norwegian striker has been a revelation for Pep Guardiola’s side and scored his third hat-trick in as many home league games against Man United on Sunday (2 October).
The 22-year-old now has 17 goals in 11 outings in all competitions this season.
However, due to his injury record, Whelan claims Haaland could be dropped from the starting XI over the next few weeks.
“City will have to 100 per cent manage Haaland’s time carefully, no doubt about that,” Whelan told Football Insider.
“I’m sure Guardiola and his coaching staff will have a plan in place.
“He missed a lot of matches at Dortmund over the previous two seasons, and they won’t want a repeat of that.
“I expect they will leave him out of the team for certain matches, rotate him to keep him fresh. It could be as soon as this week against Copenhagen, who are not the strongest team.
“They have Alvarez as an alternative centre-forward and lots of versatile forwards who can play down the middle – Grealish and Foden have played that role plenty of times.
“Haaland can’t play every match, and won’t be, either. In fact, it’s a surprise he’s started every Premier League and Champions League game so far”.
City are next in action against Copenhagen on Wednesday (5 October).
They then return to Premier League action against Southampton on Saturday (8 October).
In other news, Kieran Maguire has claimed Man City “master plan” has emerged as a £175million Brazilian deal is all but done.