Pep Guardiola reveals who will replace Haaland and the Man City stars that are close to returning from injury | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola has revealed who will step in to replace Erling Haaland as Man City’s striker.

Yesterday the news broke that Haaland will spend a lengthy period on the sideline after picking up an ankle injury against Bournemouth in the FA Cup. The Norwegian is expected to be out for 5-7 weeks and may not return until after the end of the Premier League season.

Haaland will be a huge miss for City and unsurprisingly Pep Guardiola was quizzed on who will replace the star striker. Omar Marmoush is perhaps the most natural replacement at number nine and Guardiola agreed, “Yeah, he can play there. Phil (Foden) can play there. McAtee can play there. Oscar Bobb can play there. Yeah, there are players that can play there.”

Marmoush played as a striker for Eintracht Frankfurt before he moved to Manchester in January. City’s boss expanded on the Egyptian forward, “He likes to play close to the box. He loves to score, he has a sense of goal, definitely.”

Injuries have been a consistent problem for the Blues this season. They have been a major factor in their underwhelming campaign. City’s boss reasoned, “When we won the treble, everybody was there. When we won the quadruple, everybody was there. When we won the double, everybody was there.”

“Imagine without Khusanov and (Vitor Reis), we would have spent the last six, seven, eight weeks with just one central defender, with just Ruben (Dias). So it is difficult to compete in that position.

“We have won one title this season, the Community Shield, we have one title in the pocket. Alongside Newcastle, we are the only ones who have done it. I think between Arsenal and Liverpool the Premier League will be defined and we will see in the FA Cup.

“And of course, with the situation that we have, if we are going to the Champions League next season that will be an incredible success. Just for the fact of being there, for the problems that we have had.”

There was some positive news on the injury front for City. Guardiola revealed that Manuel Akanji is nearing a return, “He’s getting better. All of them I think, I don’t know Nathan (Ake), but all of them will come before the end of the season. But I don’t know when, but Manu’s getting better.”

Guardiola admitted that he does not know when the Swiss defender will return to training. Despite this, he is hopeful that both Akanji and John Stones could return by the end of this month. Guardiola revealed ,“I think in April, before the end of April, maybe they will be back. That is a long time without them.”

The coach continued, “I’m lucky that Josko (Gvardiol) was like a warrior, a real warrior.

“He’s been there all the time, all the time since the beginning of the season. I cannot imagine what would have happened without Josko, what he has done.

“That’s why I just can be grateful and appreciate his focus, to be ready all the time.”