Erling Haaland reveals delight at Manchester City life amid reports of Real Madrid transfer interest

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has openly admitted his delight at life at the Etihad Stadium following a hugely successful first season with the club.

The latest comments from the Norway international come at a time when the 23-year-old striker is returning to full match sharpness having recovered from a bone stress problem in his foot that ruled him out of action for the club for two months.

Simultaneously, comments stressing his delight at life with the reigning Premier League champions coincide with staggering claims from Spanish media suggesting unhappiness from Haaland with the climate in Manchester.

Manager Pep Guardiola was keen to dismiss such claims during a recent press conference, joking that perhaps Spanish media, particularly those based in Madrid, have more information than himself and Manchester City as a club.

Speaking at length to Manchester City’s official club podcast, Erling Haaland has reflected on a dream first season at the Etihad Stadium, highlighting his delight at the ‘vibes’ at the club’s City Football Academy training centre in particular.

“My first weeks and months, I wanted to get settled in the team as quickly as possible,” Haaland said. “To get to know people, get to know the whole club and how they play and how they do things.”

Discussing his overall ambitions upon first joining the club, Haaland continued, “In the big picture it was to win the Champions League. That’s what I said when I came here, that was the goal. From the first day I came here, I enjoyed it.

“There are good vibes in the locker room and the CFA, so I felt it was a place I want to come to and an environment I wanted to be in and I think you saw that on the pitch as well. The Club won the Premier League two years in a row before so there was a lot of pressure there.

“We were behind (Arsenal and league leaders) for 248 days or something, so there was pressure there. If I came in and we didn’t win the Premier League it would have been like: ‘You came in and destroyed everything!’

“But to win that, we did good in the Champions League and of course the FA Cup, to get the full Treble was unreal and an amazing first season.”

Erling Haaland returned to action for Manchester City on Wednesday night in his first appearance for the club since recovering from injury, featuring in the final 25 minutes of a routine 3-1 win over Burnley in Premier League action.

Haaland is understood to be training and playing without any pain in his foot and is likely to play a huge part in the second-half of the season should he remain fit, and despite the impressive form of Julian Alvarez across the forward line so far this campaign.