Coach Pep Guardiola shared that Erling Haaland is looked after 24 hours a day to ensure the Norwegian striker can play every week.
Haaland has scored an impressive 45 goals for City in all competitions so far since moving from Dortmund for £51m last summer, a record for an English Premier League player . Coach Pep Guardiola revealed that Man City’s medical team has worked meticulously to get the best out of the Norwegian striker’s ability.
In the press conference before Man City’s match against Leicester City in the 31st round of the Premier League, coach Pep Guardiola shared: “I don’t know what Haaland did at Dortmund but we take care of him 24/7, we have doctors. Amazing doctor and physicist to support him down to the smallest detail. They are with him every second of the day. It’s confusing if you spend a lot of money on players and then leave them.
With today’s tight schedule, three or four days a game, we have to have a large entourage to take care of the players. Modern football is very demanding, from nutrition, rest, eating, sleeping to how many minutes to practice. There is data that says players should not practice for more than 10-15 minutes, otherwise it will be at risk.
People wonder why I substituted Haaland against Leipzig when he has scored so many goals? Haaland was injured in the match against Burnley, which prevented him from playing for Norway and missed the match against Liverpool. Haaland spends a lot more time in the gym than on the field. That’s what players do in modern football today.”
Haaland missed 16 Dortmund games last season through injury and that left the Norwegian striker in doubt about his ability to play regularly when he joined City last summer. But so far, Haaland has only missed three Man City matches because of injury. He is one of the most used players by coach Pep Guardiola since the beginning of the season, just behind Rodri and goalkeeper Ederson.
Man City is currently 6 points behind the leading team Arsenal in the English Premier League, but coach Pep Guardiola’s army has played less than 1 match. Besides, Man City is still in the process of welcoming the “Gunners” at Etihad at the end of this month. However, the Spanish strategist is still cautious when talking about the championship race.
The 52-year-old added: “I would love to be in Arsenal’s position right now. I don’t know what will happen in a week, or nine games, but I’m happy to be where I am.
I don’t think much of anything but Leicester City. I don’t care about titles or no titles. We may lose points. The reality is we are six points behind Arsenal and we have to win our games.”
