Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has been one of the world’s most vicious goal scorers since joining the Premier League club from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2022.
Having led the English top flight in goal scoring each of his first two seasons, he was in the hunt for a third consecutive Golden Boot title even as City struggled to match their heights of the last few campaigns.
Now, that mantle will almost surely be vacated as Haaland has picked up an ankle injury that will seemingly ruin most of the rest of his 2024/25 season.
The Sporting News brings you the latest on Haaland’s late-season injury, including how it happened, what the diagnosis is, how long he’ll be out, and who could replace him in the lineup while he’s sidelined.
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Erling Haaland injury news, reports
In the 61st minute of Man City’s 2-1 victory over Bournemouth in the FA Cup quarterfinals on Sunday, March 30, Erling Haaland was withdrawn with an apparent ankle injury.
After scoring his team’s equaliser to pull City level, the 24-year-old superstar was seen struggling after a challenge by Lewis Cook which saw the Bournemouth defender land on Haaland’s plant foot, twisting his ankle. While Haaland attempted to soldier on, he soon knew he could not continue.
Haaland was then seen leaving the stadium in a walking boot and crutches, a worrying sign for City fans.
The following day, Man City confirmed that Haaland’s ankle injury would leave him sidelined for quite some time. While they did not confirm a timetable, citing that more tests were needed to determine the extent of the injury, they did indicate that “the expectation is that Erling will be fit in time to play a further part in the remainder of this season, including this summer’s FIFA Club World Cup.”
While that sounds positive on the surface, it feels deeply concerning that the club felt the need to indicate he would play again this season in the first place. From the start of April, Man City have eight more Premier League fixtures to navigate, plus the FA Cup semifinals on April 26 and a potential final should they reach Wembley.
Will Ering Haaland play in the Manchester derby?
The chances of Erling Haaland taking the field against local rivals Manchester United on April 6 are virtually zero.
That would require Haaland to shed his walking boot and crutches in a week, which given City’s pointed timetable of a return, basically, “sometime this season,” there’s no expectation that he could be fully fit for action so soon.
Instead, it’s more likely that Haaland will probably need 4-6 weeks of recovery, putting his return sometime near the end of the club season with an eye towards preparing for the Club World Cup in mid-June.
Who will replace Erling Haaland in Man City lineup?
Thankfully for Pep Guardiola, Man City made a rare splash in the winter transfer window snatching up Egypt international Omar Marmoush from Eintracht Frankfurt back in January.
Even if Marmoush doesn’t possess the pure goal scoring threat that Haaland presents, €60 million ($64.9m / £50.2m) forward will be a truly capable fill-in while the Norwegian star is absent.
Marmoush proved as much when he scored the eventual winner just two minutes after coming on to replace an injured Haaland against Bournemouth, and he has generally breathed life into a somewhat stale Man City attack since joining the club.
The 26-year-old already has four goals and an assist in seven Premier League appearances since arriving at the Etihad, and he comes with the Guardiola familiarity as essentially a carbon copy of the departed Julian Alvarez.
Nobody can replicate the world-class danger that Haaland brings each and every match, but City look more than capable of scoring goals with Marmoush at the point of the attack, and a slight change in approach to fit Marmoush’s style could possibly even benefit the club as they hunt for a Champions League place down the stretch of the season.
