Pep Guardiola issues bumper Erling Haaland injury update ahead of Premier League run-in and FA Cup Final | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has issued a bumper update on the fitness of Erling Haaland ahead of the final few games of their competitive season.

The 24-year-old has been sidelined for the last couple of weeks with an ankle injury that required further specialist assessment from the club’s go-to professional in Barcelona just days after the problem was sustained against Bournemouth in the FA Cup.

An initial statement from Manchester City indicated that Erling Haaland would be expected to return to action before the close of the season, and specifically in time for the club’s venture at the FIFA Club World Cup in the USA.

And backing up that initial belief, the club’s star striker has returned to full first-team training alongside Rodri, who has been sidelined after sustaining a serious knee injury during the opening weeks of the ongoing campaign.

Speaking to the media this week in his latest round of press conference duties, manager Pep Guardiola admitted that while he believes Erling Haaland is not far away from a return to City action, the club are not wanting to take any risks with their star striker.

“Soon, I think he’s getting better,” Guardiola responded when asked when Erling Haaland could return to Manchester City’s matchday squad. “He’s injured for four to six weeks, now he’s in between four and five.”

“The injury is not easy, a tricky, tricky injury. But he’s making partial training, almost full training, he’s getting better. Hopefully in the next games he can be there.”

Further quizzed on whether he would want the Norwegian star to play in some of Manchester City’s domestic matches before the club jets off to the United States this summer for the Club World Cup, Guardiola said, “I hope so. I think he will be able to play before the World Cup.

“I’m pretty sure all of them will want to play it (the FA Cup Final). When you reach the final of the FA Cup, everyone wants to be involved. It depends on how they feel, how they recover. Now is a period when you have to be certain.

“It’s not already qualified here (for the Champions League), we don’t play for anything, after that you can do things but now it’s a final every single game. We’ve been making an incredible effort in the last 11 games unbeaten since Nottingham Forest away, just one draw against [Manchester] United away.

“So we cannot be distracted from anything else. Wolves, Wolves, and Wolves. The rest, we have time to think about it and day by day, see in the training sessions, the physios, doctor, what they are going to say we’re going to try to make the right decisions.”

Pep Guardiola continued, “The last game against Nottingham Forest in the semi-final of the FA Cup, he said, ‘I’m not ready’. When he will feel ready, the doctor says, ‘Yeah’… I’m going to say first how does the player feel and after, the doctors as well. I don’t know yet, honestly.”

Manchester City will likely be hoping for a full return to starting eleven duties from Haaland by the time their crunch FA Cup Final clash arrives later this month, with Crystal Palace the opponents at Wembley Stadium.

The two sides are due to go head-to-head for the final piece of major silverware available this season on Saturday 17 May, in what will also be Kevin De Bruyne’s last chance to end his Manchester City career on the ultimate trophy-high.