Erling Haaland and Rodri return to Manchester City first-team training | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola and Manchester City have received a significant boost to their first-team options this week with the return of Erling Haaland and Rodri to training.

The Norway international has been ruled out for the last number of weeks with an ankle problem that required further analysis and assessment in Barcelona, having sustained the issue in the FA Cup quarter-final win over Bournemouth.

Manchester City issued a statement at the time confirming their belief that Erling Haaland would be able to return to action for the club before the end of the season, with somewhat of a certainty over his availability at the summer’s FIFA Club World Cup.

As for Rodri, the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner sustained a well-known knee injury during a 2-2 draw with Arsenal during the opening weeks of the season, leaving many with a belief that he would miss the entirety of the remaining months of the campaign.

However, the Spanish international has consistently suggested that he would return to action for Manchester City and possibly Spain this season, and the latest developments would appear to indicate that being the case.

According to the information of reputable Manchester City source ‘FPLMaineRoad’ on X, both Erling Haaland and Rodri have now returned to training for Pep Guardiola’s side in the last few hours and days.

City Xtra can also confirm the latter’s return to training, with the defensive midfielder spotted in the background of one particular Manchester City-issued training ground image released on Friday afternoon.

Pep Guardiola himself appeared to indicate during his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon that Rodri was making significant progress in his recovery, suggesting that the player was already part of the main group.

“I don’t know,” Guardiola responded when asked whether a potential FA Cup final for Manchester City could feature the Spanish midfielder. “Every training session he’s doing with us, so he’s doing really well I would say.”

“But yeah, I don’t know, to be honest I don’t know. Rodri wants, but the doctors are going to tell me, ‘Pep, you have green lights to give him some minutes’, or so on. I will rely on the doctors in that case.”

As for Erling Haaland, Guardiola suggested that the striker would be monitored over the next few days having maintained individual work at the City Football Academy throughout the course of the week.

The returns of Haaland and Rodri would likely leave Manchester City with only a handful of players in recovery, namely Ederson alongside a central defensive duo of Nathan Ake and John Stones – both of whom have struggled throughout the campaign with fitness issues.