Pep Guardiola has allayed fears over an Erling Haaland injury, saying he will play in Manchester City’s next pre-season friendly after missing out against Club America on Wednesday.
The summer signing from Borussia Dortmund sat out of the 2-1 win in Houston, Texas as Kevin De Bruyne scored twice for the Premier League champions.
Other new arrivals Julian Alvarez, Kalvin Phillips and Stefan Ortega all featured, so fans may have been worried as to why Haaland did not get on the field in the States.
Guardiola revealed that he was not quite ready to make an appearance for his new team, but he will be when City take on Bayern Munich in their next friendly at the weekend.
‘Next game he will be ready,’ said Guardiola. ‘He had niggles and a few problems. We’ll see. He’s trained just two sessions and we didn’t want to take risks. The season is so long, maybe against Bayern, we will see. He made two sessions, we don’t want to take risks. The season is so long; we will have time, don’t worry…”
“He had some problems last season at Dortmund but we try to handle it; it’s not a big issue. We want to take care of them. When we come back we want to be fit; the player has to be fit to be ready. It will come.”
These Guardiola’s comments on Haaland were shared on Twitter by City Xtra and it attracted plenty of attention from the club’s supporters.
“Niggles man is back.”
Credit: @MCFC_Grealish
“It’s been one pre season game and he’s already saying ‘niggles’.”
Credit: @Cam_MCFC_
“Oh no.”
Credit: @Anonymous784838
“Not the niggles again.”
Credit: @i_like_s_w
“Hate these Niggles ffs.”
Credit: @Sashank__
“I’m starting to believe Pep Guardiola niggles is just a form of rest.”
Credit: @E_r_l_i_n_g_9
“Dortmund would’ve let him play, which is the issue here. A year at City and his injuries will start to fade..”
Credit: @MVNNY22
“There was no need for him to play especially with only 2 sessions under his belt.”
Credit: @AdamCambridge11
This is the reason why I love this amazing club,we don’t like risking our players just like that,and I can see #ManCity building a monster upfront next season🔵⚽️💪🏻 pic.twitter.com/uMocUmFOYB
— Kwabena✨ (@blerkview_) July 21, 2022
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