Guardiola reveals fitness concerns for Haaland

Man City manager says striker is ‘not comfortable’ after subbing him at half-time again

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Pep Guardiola says Erling Haaland is “not comfortable” and has “niggles” after the Manchester City manager substituted his striker at half-time for the second pre-season match in a row.

Haaland managed only 45 minutes of Saturday’s 3-2 defeat to AC Milan, and had to be withdrawn at the break again on Wednesday as Man City lost to Barcelona in a penalty shootout after a 2-2 draw.

“Erling is not comfortable,” said Guardiola. “We don’t want to take risks. But sooner or later he has to take a step with training and minutes.

“The season is there, around the corner. He has niggles, muscular, we don’t want to take a risk and lose him for three weeks or a month. That would be a problem.”

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Haaland’s fitness issues could cause a host of managers to revise their plans in Fantasy Premier League.

The Norwegian is the most-expensive player EVER in Fantasy, at £15.0m, and is currently owned in only 36 per cent of squads. For context, he finished 2023/24 with an ownership in excess of 73 per cent, which was over 21 per cent more than any other player in the game.

Those who were planning to pay the hefty price tag for Haaland at the start of 2024/25 may now be having second thoughts and looking at how to invest the cash in other areas of their squad.