Pep Guardiola reveals Erling Haaland injury setback in concerning recovery update

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has revealed that Erling Haaland has suffered a new injury setback.

The 23-year-old has been absent from the Manchester City squad since a 1-0 loss to Aston Villa in December, with the Norway international set to miss a ninth consecutive game this weekend, when the Sky Blues travel to Newcastle United.

Haaland scored at St James’ Park last season during a thrilling 3-3 draw, although the forward didn’t feature during the 1-0 Carabao Cup loss to Eddie Howe’s side in September.

The formidable forward scored 52 goals in 53 appearances last season, and currently jointly-leads the Premier League Golden Boot race, despite missing City’s previous recent fixtures.

Haaland has been sidelined with a foot injury, and despite returning to first-team training last week, the Norwegian wasn’t named in the matchday squad for the 5-0 win over Huddersfield Town in the Emirates FA Cup.

Pep Guardiola’s side play just two Premier League matches this month, but face a challenging FA Cup fourth round trip to Tottenham, as City look to retain the trophy following last season’s Wembley success.

The 23-year-old risks missing all of the Blues’ remaining matches this month however, after Pep Guardiola revealed that Haaland has suffered a fresh setback during his recent recovery.

“A little bit (of a setback), but he’s fine,” said Guardiola.

“A little bit of a problem, a little bit of disturbance in his feet, and the doctors decided to stop (him training for) one week, and restart maybe in Abu Dhabi and hopefully at the end of this month he’ll be ready.

“It was a little bit more than we expected at the beginning, in his bone, and the bone needs time. Every injury you can do whatever you want, it’s a question of time, and at the end of this month maybe he’ll be ready to come back.”

Manchester City welcomed back both Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku last weekend, but will be without centre-back pair John Stones and Manuel Akanji due to injury for Saturday evening’s match on Tyneside.