Erling Haaland 'not happy' as Man City teammate opens up on striker's message

Jeremy Doku has labeled Manchester City goal machine Erling Haaland as one of the most brooding strikers in Europe, despite his phenomenal goalscoring record.

Since his £51 million move from Borussia Dortmund in 2022, Haaland has broken records, scoring an astonishing 52 goals in his first season and propelling City to a triple triumph.

In total, Haaland has an impressive tally of 107 goals in 118 games under Pep Guardiola. However, the Norwegian sensation has only found the net three times in his last seven outings, coinciding with City's most difficult period since Guardiola took charge in 2016.

Haaland's frustration was evident when Doku opted not to pass to him during City's clash against Nottingham Forest, although the Belgian winger scored the third goal of the game straight after. Haaland kept her congratulatory message brief.

“He just said 'congratulations,'” Doku explained. “Obviously, it's normal. He's an attacker and he wants the ball. I try to look for it. That action that I took, it was maybe a goal or a miss. This time it was a goal.

“Erling is not a happy striker. He knows he can't win all the balls, so he just wants to be in the best position. It's a shame he didn't score a goal, but you saw how important he was to the team match.

Haaland has not found the net in the Premier League since before the international break. And City suffered as a result, going seven matches without a win before Wednesday's 3-0 win over Forest at the Etihad Stadium.

Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne got City on track before Doku cleared Haaland and added the third. While Haaland has so often been the star of the Blues over the past two and a half seasons, De Bruyne was cheered against the Tricky Trees with a goal and an assist as he continues to recover from injury.

“It’s been a difficult time,” De Bruyne told Amazon Prime. “We have to accept the challenge and I think we did well today. It's been a difficult time but we have to accept the challenge. The Premier League is getting tougher and tougher and every team is tough to play against.

“Everyone takes points from everyone. We have to improve. We have to try to win games first and we will see in a few months where we are.”