Manchester City striker Erling Haaland could play a part in the club’s final pre-season friendly against Chelsea on Saturday night, Pep Guardiola has revealed.
The Norway international was withdrawn from action in the midweek meeting with FC Barcelona in Orlando, Florida with manager Pep Guardiola later revealing that the player was suffering from muscular ‘niggles’.
With the new season right around the corner, and Manchester City coming towards the conclusion of their pre-season camp in the United States, Guardiola and his coaching staff were not willing to take any risks with the player.
“He was disturbing something,” Guardiola revealed after the clash at Camping World Stadium. “He didn’t feel comfortable and we didn’t want to take the risk. But sooner or later, he will have to take the step to training and playing minutes. The season is there, around the corner.”
Now, addressing the media from Columbus this week, Pep Guardiola provided the latest on the Norwegian striker following the problems sustained during the defeat to FC Barcelona via a penalty shoot-out in midweek.
The Manchester City manager not only revealed that his mainstay striker is now doing “much better” following his muscular ‘niggles’ sustained against Barcelona, but also that the 24-year-old may play against Chelsea this weekend.
“He told me today he woke up much better,” Guardiola insisted.
It remains to be seen what other solutions Pep Guardiola may draw upon in the event of Erling Haaland not being risked from the start of the meeting against Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea on Saturday night, with back-up striker Julian Alvarez not with the squad this summer.
In the last few matches in the United States, Guardiola has looked towards a number of players for the false-nine role, with the likes of Jack Grealish, Oscar Bobb, James McAtee, and Rico Lewis all taking up the position.
The expectation would be to see McAtee take up the starting berth in the position, should Erling Haaland not be available, but there could also be further experimentation on show against Chelsea.