Erling Haaland takes it with humor: In response to Pep Guardiola’s impending fitness measures, the Manchester City striker proudly shows off his weight. Even after the holidays, it is still within the permitted range. Haaland has no consequences to fear.
Erling Haaland has responded with a wink to the weight check announced by his coach Pep Guardiola. The Manchester City striker shared a photo of himself standing on a scale during the Christmas holidays. The device shows 94.4 kg. “All good!” wrote the 1.94 m tall Norwegian to his meticulous coach.
Before the short Christmas break, Guardiola revealed that all players had been weighed before the holidays. In case some of them had overindulged during the festive feasting, the coach even threatened to drop them from the squad for the upcoming Premier League match at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
“They’ll be back on the 25th, and I’ll be there to check how many kilos they’ve gained, whether they’ve put on weight,” Guardiola said. “When they come back after three days, I want to see how they look. They can eat, but I want to check on them.” A player who was in top form before Christmas and then weighs three pounds more will “stay in Manchester,” Guardiola said: “He won’t travel to Nottingham.”
Haaland is likely to be there, though, given the evidence on the scales. The striker is indispensable for City this season anyway: he has scored 25 goals in 23 competitive games so far. In the Premier League, 19 of the Citizens’ 41 goals so far – almost half – have been scored by Haaland.
