Norway manager Ståle Solbakken has confirmed Manchester City‘s Erling Haaland is on a break and immediately left the national team camp after their defeat to Portugal on Sunday.
The striker won’t return to England immediately and will only do so after a short break. He may not enjoy it a lot, considering the Manchester City star went off injured yesterday.
Haaland played four UEFA Nations League matches with the national team during this international break. He had played the full 90 minutes in the first three and 67 minutes against Portugal.
The frontman suffered an injury, forcing the manager to replace him with Crystal Palace’s Jørgen Strand Larsen.
More time off for Manchester City man
The 26-year-old was set to speak to the media on September 26th, two days after Norway’s win over Denmark. However, he didn’t appear for the press conference.
Ståle Solbakken earlier confirmed this was because he had given Erling Haaland a day off. The manager now revealed Manchester City have decided to give him rest for a few days and Nettavisen have relayed his comments.
“It’s not just him (Haaland), there’s a whole bunch who are leaving now. They have been given a few days off from their clubs. They’ve booked a private plane that you and I can’t afford,” he said.
Last season, Erling Haaland played 4,144 minutes from 52 matches for the Citizens. He went to the World Cup, where he played 555 minutes from five matches. The last fixture was against England on July 11th.
The Norway international went on a break and returned to Manchester City in August. His first appearance of this season was in the Community Shield defeat to Arsenal later that month.
This season, he has seven goals from 593 minutes from seven matches. This was followed by four appearances for the national team.
| Erling Haaland — Manchester City statistics | 2024/25 | 2025/26 | 2026/27 so far |
|---|---|---|---|
| Appearances | 48 | 52 | 7 |
| Starts | 45 | 48 | 7 |
| Total minutes played | 4,039 | 4,146 | 593 |
| Goals | 34 | 38 | 7 |
| Assists | 5 | 9 | 0 |
| Goals + assists | 39 | 47 | 7 |
| Minutes per goal | 119 | 109 | 85 |
Fixture congestion impacting Manchester City star
The coach says he held talks with the frontman over managing his minutes, after finishing tired last week against Wales. Dagbladet have relayed his comments.
Solbakken talked about a feeling of helplessness regarding the impact of fixture congestion on Haaland.
“It’s tough. But we can’t do anything about it. We just have to play the matches we are put on,” he added.
“For those who play in the Champions League and have had little vacation, it’s more brutal than for the others. Especially for the players who didn’t get a vacation this summer because of the World Cup and those who went far. We did.”
“Having so little vacation and entering leagues with high intensity, then you get to the national team here, it has nothing to do with excuses. It’s just insane. Especially for the smaller nations.”
