12 December 2023 , 12:22
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Alfie Haaland has raised fears Erling Haaland is set for an extended spell on the sidelines after selling his son on Fantasy Premier League.
As spotted by X user @FPLFocal, the 51-year-old transferred Pep Guardiola's goalscoring phenomenon out of his team ahead of Manchester City's 2-1 win at Luton on Sunday - bringing in Mohamed Salah and Alexander Isak of Newcastle.
Haaland's brother Astor and girlfriend Isabel Haugseng Johansen also followed suit - potentially indicating the Norwegian's injury could be worse than initially suggested. The 23-year-old is currently suffering from a bone stress reaction in his foot.
Guardiola said of the problem ahead of his team's gutsy triumph at Kenilworth Road: "After the last game against Aston Villa, he felt it and he cannot play. I don't know [the length of the injury]. Week by week, day by day, we will see what happens. Erling has been so important since he's arrived, that's for sure. But during the season we see this sort of thing. Injuries, suspensions, problems, we have to adapt."
City hope Haaland will be fit to feature in the FIFA Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia later this month. The Premier League champions face Crvena zvezda in their final Champions League group match in Serbia on Wednesday before hosting Crystal Palace at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
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Once the match is out of the way, City do not return to Premier League action until December 27 when they face Everton - which may also have played a part in Alfie Haaland's thinking.
Alfie Haaland refused to captain Premier League golden boot winner Salah who bagged 13 points in Liverpool's dramatic 2-1 win at Crystal Palace. Instead, he opted for Isak who struggled in Newcastle's 4-1 defeat at Tottenham on Sunday.
Erling Haaland missed Man City's 2-1 win at Luton (Getty Images)City midfielder Mateo Kovacic said his team-mates need to give 20 per cent more when they're without Haaland. The Croatian said: “Obviously we missed key players like Erling and Kevin, it’s never easy when you miss such big players. But they are not in the moment here, we need everybody to give 10, 20 per cent more like we did [on Sunday] and then we can win games.”
He later added: “The team was confident because we were playing good. We had not bad results, some draws where we could have won. This is football sometimes, then it’s about how you come back.
"Today we came back in a good way. A big three points. We showed overall great football, especially in the first half we played very well, we found a lot of players in the pockets which is what we want."