Erling Haaland sends emotional message to Jack Grealish over Club World Cup absence | OneFootball

Manchester City’s Erling Haaland has posted an emotional indirect message to teammate Jack Grealish, who is absent from the squad at the FIFA Club World Cup.

Pep Guardiola and a 27-man travelling squad jetted out from Manchester Airport on Thursday afternoon for Fort Lauderdale in Florida ahead of the Club World Cup, which begins next week with a group stage match-up against Morocco’s Wydad AC.

The club’s newly-arrived quartet of signings are present and correct with the squad, while Manuel Akanji was not listed as he awaited the arrival of his teammates in the United States following duties with Switzerland across the Atlantic.

However, a number of names were notably absent and are not due to play any part in the competition for Manchester City, including Kyle Walker, James McAtee and an injured duo of Kalvin Phillips and Mateo Kovacic.

Jack Grealish is arguably the most notable omission from the roster however, as the England international targets a move away from the Etihad Stadium, with all involved in agreement that now is likely the best time for a parting of ways after four seasons.

But one Manchester City star was keen to highlight his personal sadness at the 29-year-old not joining Pep Guardiola’s squad on their flight out of Manchester on Thursday, uploading a heartfelt post to his social media.

In an upload to Snapchat, City striker Erling Haaland accompanied a selfie of himself on board the club’s private flight to the United States with an empty adjacent seat captioned, “Jack Grealish where are you”, alongside an emoji depicting tears.

The pair are known to be close friends within the Manchester City camp and have been an iconic duo since Erling Haaland’s arrival from Borussia Dortmund ahead of the 2022/23 Treble-winning campaign.

Speaking in October 2023 on their friendship, Haaland said of the former Aston Villa forward, “We are different, but some things are the same too.”

The Norway international continued, “We love to have fun; we love to have a joke and have a laugh a bit. We just want to smile, enjoy, relax and play good football together. He’s also a kind person.”

In the preceding May, Grealish repaid the compliments as he said of the centre-forward and their bond, “We have a great friendship but he’ll point at me after a game and say: ‘Don’t go out tonight partying’.

“I just tell him to shut up and sit in his ice bath. But that’s us. Two different people doing well in our own way.”