Man City get Erling Haaland boost for 2024/25 with disappointing Norway news

There will be mixed feelings from Manchester City and Pep Guardiola when Erling Haaland returns from international duty.

The number one priority will be ensuring Haaland's short-term and long-term fitness after his ankle injury during Norway's friendly vs Faroe Islands. Norway say he will miss their clash with Scotland as he is in pain, but insist there are no long-term concerns and even suggested that he may have been risked had there been something riding on their trip to Glasgow.

And the reason there is nothing riding on that result is their failure to qualify automatically for Euro 2024. On Saturday, their last remaining life-line was also torn away from them, ruling them out definitively of being involved in next summer's Euros in Germany.

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That carries considerable disappointment for Haaland and any fan of top quality football. Haaland would have been the best striker at the tournament if Norway had qualified, but this will be another international tournament that he will miss, with Norway's wait for a first tournament appearance since 2000 set to go into its 26th year.

Only 16 European teams will qualify for the 2026 World Cup, however, compared 24 spots at the 2028 Euros, so Haaland could realistically be 28 by the time he makes his big tournament debut.

This time around, Norway's hopes of automatic qualification for Euro 2024 went last month, with the play-offs their last hope of booking a place in Germany. However, due to a poor performance in the Nations League, they were reliant on other countries' performance in the