Haaland says ‘no excuses’ during US tour birthday

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland has said he has “no excuses” as part of a message marking the two-time Premier League top scorer’s 24th birthday on the club’s US tour 2024.

Team-mates Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Kyle Walker and Manchester United winger Jadon Sancho, who was with Haaland at previous club Borussia Dortmund, were among the high-profile players to congratulate the Norway international.

“Thanks for all the birthday wishes, everyone,” replied Haaland. “Twenty-four years old means I’m no longer a talent anymore, so let’s get to work. No excuses.”

Man City US tour

Haaland’s pre-season trip with City starts against Scottish giants Celtic in North Carolina on Wednesday (12:30am BST).

The reigning Premier League champions then face Milan in New York on Saturday (11pm BST), Barcelona in Orlando on July 31 (midnight BST) and Chelsea in Ohio on August 3 (10.30pm BST).

Haaland stats, transfer rumours

In 2023/24, Haaland finished on 27 top-flight goals – nine short of his tally in his preceding debut campaign, failing to score in three of City’s final four games.

One of those was their surprise FA Cup final defeat to Manchester United, when Haaland, who also missed nine games in all competitions through injury, had a quiet match.

He was linked with a move to Real Madrid midway through 2023/24 but noted his third season with manager Pep Guardiola’s side earlier this week by posting: “Year three – let’s get to it.”

Erling Haaland salary

Handsomely-paid Haaland earns a basic salary of £375,000 per week or £19.5 million a year, according to Capology.

With bonuses, those figures are said to rise to a maximum of £850,000 a week or £44.2m annually as part of a contract until 2027.

City start their season against United in the Community Shield on August 10 and travel to Chelsea eight days later for their Premier League opener.

They finished two points above Arsenal last season, losing three of their 38 league matches and reaching the Uefa Champions League quarter-finals, in which Madrid ousted them on penalties.

Haaland did not join many of his City team-mates at Euro 2024 because Norway failed to reach the finals from a tough qualifying group.

Single-goal home defeats to Spain and Scotland, who both reached the finals, led to Norway missing out on a place in Germany and ensured Haaland would have more time to rest than some of the best players in Europe this summer.