Manchester City’s big money capture of Norwegian international and former Borussia Dortmund striker, Erling Haaland was always going to be a game changer in the English Premier League the only real question was how quickly the now 22-year-old Leeds born beast would readjust to the more typical UK domestic game.
Having impressed at Molde, and then absolutely made some great headlines during his spell with Red Bull Salzburg and then Dortmund, Haaland’s goals to games ratio is utterly phenomenal and although he somewhat struggled in the Community Shield tie with Liverpool, you could already see his quality and the kind of test he would prove to be for top flight defenders and he showed that in their very next game as he scored both goals as Pep Guardiola’s side took a two nil victory over West Ham United on the opening day of the 2022 campaign and you would have got good odds from the likes of betting.net on him having a successful season.
As we work through the fixture crush and head towards the forced midseason break for the winter World Cup out in Qatar, Haaland now has 16 starting appearances to his name for City, and he’s already chipped in with 17 Premier League goals and give Champions League goals.
Many will have expected that return given his performances and clinical strike rate in other divisions, but few would have expected him to adjust quite this quickly.
It does not mean he has had it all his own way though, after suffering a fever and taking a knock to his foot as he faced off against former club Dortmund back on October 25, he was withdrawn at the half time break and then missed their clash with Leicester City, and Guardiola has now confirmed he will also miss their next Champions League game against Sevilla on Wednesday evening.
Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday afternoon with build up to the game well under way, Guardiola explained.
“Erling will not be available for tomorrow. He feels better compared to Saturday and Sunday, but not 100%. We don’t want to take a risk, it makes no sense. Hopefully he will be back for Fulham.”
With a record breaking 22 goals in his opening 15 games, and with City having already secured top place in their Champions League group battle and clinched progress through to the last 16 phase, whilst fans would love to see him back sooner rather than later, there is absolutely no reason to rush him here, as especially with the November break, there is plenty of domestic and European football to be played in the remainder of this season and Guardiola will want him fit and firing right up until the end of May as he searches for yet another title to add to the clubs’ cabinet.
Until then, we will just have to see if he does now return as planned for the upcoming clash with Fulham this Saturday.
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