Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has spoken out about the benefits of a long pre-season after suffering through injury last season.
Haaland went on to score 27 goals to claim a second consecutive Premier League Golden Boot last season, while his tally for City ahead of the 2024/25 campaign stands at 90 from 98 appearances.
But a foot injury forced him to miss almost six weeks in December and January, after which he struggled to match his previous form with four goals in his next nine Premier League appearances.
Haaland did not go to Euro 2024 in the summer, with Norway's failure to win the tournament was undoubtedly a blessing because it meant an opportunity to recover and solve the problems that still persist.
“It's been a good pre-season for me – I've never felt better. In general, I have no pain in my body for the first time in a long time,” explained Haaland after marking the Premier League opener. game of the new season with a goal defeating Chelsea 2-0.
“It's amazing – you can push yourself so much because you don't have anything in the back of your head. I've had a long pre-season, I've enjoyed it.”
The pre-season also gave Haaland, now 24, the chance to captain City in the absence of a group of senior leaders – Kyle Walker, Kevin De Bruyne, Ruben Dias, Rodri, Bernardo Silva – after the European Championship. .
“We had a lot of young guns with us and being captain was amazing, I enjoyed it,” he reflected.
“We have one captain in the team but there are a lot of leaders in the team. You can't see that, but the way the defense is quiet and how much confidence they give us, keeping the ball…we have a lot of leaders in this team and I'm very happy to be here and I'm ready to go again.
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