Erling Haaland has said there are no excuses for Manchester City‘s disappointing season and insisted it has happened because he and his teammates “haven’t been good enough.”
City have relinquished the Premier League title to new champions Liverpool and failed to reach the latter rounds of the Champions League following their exit at the hands of Real Madrid.
Injuries to key players like Rodri have played a part.
Haaland, however, believes the underwhelming campaign has been caused by a dip in “hunger” within the squad after years of unprecedented success including four successive league titles and a treble in 2023.
“Of course, you can find excuses, injuries, many injuries at bad times, but in the end we haven’t been performing well enough,” Haaland said in an exclusive interview with ESPN.
“We haven’t had fully the hunger inside of us. I haven’t been good enough. I haven’t helped the team enough. In the end, we haven’t been good enough.”
Haaland has spent the last month on the sidelines after suffering an ankle injury in the 2-1 win over Bournemouth in March.
The striker has returned to training and was an unused substitute in the 1-0 win over Wolves last weekend.
His comeback has been well-timed with City fighting to qualify for next season’s Champions League and aiming to win the FA Cup ahead of a meeting with Crystal Palace in the final on May 17.
Haaland, who has scored 30 goals in 40 games this season, is expected to play some part against Southampton on Saturday to ensure he is up to speed before the Wembley showpiece.
“It was horrible to be injured, but what can you do?,” he said.
“You have to recover as quickly as you can and to come back as fit as you can. Now I’m back with loads of energy.
“I’m feeling good and moving good and I’m ready.”