City star Haaland out until end of January: Guardiola

LONDON: Pep Guardiola has revealed injured Manchester City striker Erling Haaland is set to be sidelined until the end of January.

Haaland has missed City´s last eight games with a foot injury suffered in early December in a major blow to their hopes of retaining the Premier League title.

Guardiola had hoped to welcome the 23-year-old back early in the new year, but the problem is proving more troublesome than expected.

Haaland is not yet back in full training in a concerning development for City.

Guardiola hopes the Norway star can step up his rehabilitation when City travel to Abu Dhabi for a warm-weather training camp after Saturday´s Premier League game at Newcastle.

“Yes, a little bit of disturbing problems in his feet. It´s fine but the doctors decided to stop for one week and maybe restart in Abu Dhabi,” Guardiola told reporters on Friday.

“Hopefully at the end of this month he´ll be ready. It was a little bit more than we expected in the beginning.

“It´s the bone. It needs time. With every injury you can do whatever you want but it´s a question of time.”

Haaland scored 52 goals last season during a treble-winning first campaign with City and had netted 19 this term.

Guardiola admits his firepower has been sorely missed as City trail leaders Liverpool by five points.

“We miss Erling a lot,” the Spaniard said. “We need him. Hopefully he can come back and play the last four or five months without a problem.

“When you are injured at end of November, you miss a lot of games. It´s the toughest period.” In a further blow for City, Swiss defender Manuel Akanji is facing a spell on the sidelines.