Ahead of his side’s contest against Burnley, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has revealed that Erling Haaland has been quite bored off late.
Recently, the Norwegian superstar admitted that he has been getting “bored” of not playing due to nursing an injury.
Erling Haaland must have been especially frustrated to be out of action as he was having yet another tremendous season before getting injured against Aston Villa in December.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola says Erling Haaland has been bored ahead of Burnley clash
Despite being sidelined for well over a month due to injury, the £51 million (Sky Sports) man has 24 goal contributions (19 goals and five assists) in all competitions; more than any other player at City.
As Manchester City prepare to face Burnley, Pep Guardiola has claimed that Erling Haaland has been getting bored due to being away from the pitch.
“Have been boring [for him], yeah”, Guardiola said (via HaytersTV).
“Definitely. So, these guys want to play and have been but at the same time, he refreshed his mind and come back from the summertime, [he] was a little bit tired, for the first season, he has played this amount of games, never, never played this amount and the tension for the finals we had and the FA Cup, Premier League, Champions League, he was a little bit tired mentally.”
“And now, maybe it helps to be fresh and now it’s, ‘Wow, I want to play and I want to help the team and score goals’ so that’s why maybe last part of the season, maybe it will help us.”
Erling Haaland, like any footballer must feel lost without football
With Manchester City set to host Burnley at the Etihad Stadium, the revelation from Pep Guardiola about Erling Haaland ahead of the contest does not come as a surprise.
From a young age, professional players have lived and breathed football and it has been the fulcrum of their daily routines.
When football is taken away from footballers like Haaland, they would understandably get bored as it remains their primary focus in life.
Especially elite players like the treble-winner, who always comes across as fully focused on getting better and better and as a result, an injury like this would perhaps lead to him getting frustrated that he is unable to help his side in important fixtures.
A delight to Erling Haaland would be if Pep Guardiola either starts him or even brings him off the bench for Manchester City against Burnley, as he must have been dreaming of making his return to the pitch.
