Pep Guardiola wants Erling Haaland to lay off the carbs in Marbs to spearhead Manchester City's hunt for trophies.
Unlike most of the rest of the squad, Haaland will not be heading to the World Cup when the Premier League takes a break in November and December after Norway failed to qualify. The striker will instead be given a holiday before returning to training to prepare for the second half of the season.
Pep Guardiola expects him to head for Marbella, but joked that the No.9 will have to lay off the food and drink if he wants to arrive in peak condition to pick up where he left off. Haaland has scored an astonishing 22 goals from 14 games ahead of his return to Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday night.
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" He will be in Marbella or Norway. How perfect he will be depends on how he behaves in Marbella. He has a house there. He will play golf, hopefully not eat much and drink much!
"It’s the first time in our lives it’ll happen so we don’t know how the players will come back. If they are champion they will be really positive. Or the guys knocked out might have more holidays.
"This incredible schedule, you’ve seen how many players will miss the World Cup because of this insane calendar. People are used to it. Some will need less time, more time, but they will settle. They will adapt.
"We’ll see how they feel, we’ll smell it. We’ll adapt to our routine to play again."
Guardiola will have little concerns over Haaland after seeing how well his body has adapted to the regime at City. The 22-year-old was impacted by injuries last season but has started every Premier League game after being strictly monitored by physios at the Etihad, while City also sent a physio on international duty with him.
If City knew what they were getting in terms of Haaland's goalscoring, his dedication to looking after himself has been more of a surprise for the manager.
"What I like is I know he was a guy for big transitions but I didn’t know how good he moves in the small spaces. He is so intuitive. He makes movements I like a lot, he goes away from the action. That is not easy for a striker.
"He is so smart in the right moments. His work ethic, he’s one of the first to arrive – similar to Ruben [Dias] – and one of the last to leave. He takes care of his body perfectly. He is well educated and has the intention to be better.
"He’s scoring a lot of goals. We are happy that last season he had a lot of problems but thanks to our physios he is being treated really well and can play every three days. This is so important for us."
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