Pep Guardiola believes Erling Haaland has overcome his physical issues and is back to his goalscoring best.
After a record-breaking debut season in England, Haaland’s numbers dropped slightly in 2023/24, scoring a comparatively disappointing 38 goals in 45 games.
This season, however, he is tormenting defences across England once again to the tune of nine goals in his first four matches, including two hat-tricks, and Guardiola believes Haaland’s fitness is behind his renewed form.
“The difference from last season is he feels his body, the niggles, tiredness, is better,” Guardiola said.
“He came from Dortmund with a lot of problems, muscular problems in the first month, and struggled a little bit. So far [this season] he feels ‘I’m clean, I’m good here and no problems.’
“I don’t expect him to score two or three goals in every single game, it’s not a problem because I know the quality is there, but the difference from last season is he feels good, no problems. When players have that feeling they can perform their best.”
Haaland arrived from Borussia Dortmund with a reputation as one of Europe’s premier strikers, but Guardiola confessed even he was surprised to see the 24-year-old reach his current heights.
“A little bit [surprised], yeah,” Guardiola said. “Do you know what, I played 11 years as a professional [for Barcelona] and I scored 11 goals. This guy scored nine goals in four games. He can equal me in one more game! So he’s surprised me!”
