Norway teammates say Erling Haaland is unchanged after Manchester City verdict

Erling Haaland has shown no visible change in Norway’s camp since Manchester City’s financial-rule verdict became public, teammate Kristoffer Ajer said on Wednesday, 30 September, as Norway prepared to face Wales in Cardiff. Coach Ståle Solbakken also said the striker was playing well. Their accounts offer the first public description from the national-team camp of how Haaland has appeared during a week of scrutiny around his club, before Thursday’s Nations League match.

The new comments follow NewsJaws’ earlier coverage of the Manchester City verdict. An independent commission found that City had breached Premier League financial rules across nine seasons; the club’s potential sanction has yet to be decided. Haaland’s teammates are now describing his response in training and around the squad, though their observations cannot establish how he feels privately.

What Ajer and Solbakken said about Haaland

Ajer, the Brentford defender, told BBC Sport Wales that Haaland had been ‘no different’ since news of the verdict emerged. He described the forward as focused on Norway’s upcoming games and said he had brought his usual energy and joy to the group. The Guardian independently reported Ajer’s assessment that Haaland had been ‘exactly the same’ in recent days, despite the attention on Manchester City.

Ajer told the BBC that Haaland was approaching the wait for the outcome of City’s case as the other players were, while keeping his immediate focus on Wales. That is Ajer’s account of his teammate’s conduct, rather than a statement from Haaland about the verdict. The BBC reported that Haaland was kept away from the media around Sunday’s defeat by Portugal, after reports of the decision had begun to emerge.

Norway’s Wales match puts Haaland back in view

Norway are due to play Wales at Cardiff City Stadium on Thursday, 1 October, at 19:45 BST. It would be Haaland’s first match since the Premier League publicly confirmed the commission’s findings. He trained in Cardiff on Wednesday, according to the BBC. The match had not been played when Ajer and Solbakken made their comments, so it remains to be seen how Haaland performs against Wales.

The forward enters the fixture after scoring three goals in Norway’s previous two matches: one in a 2-1 defeat by Portugal and two in a 3-2 win over Denmark, the BBC reported. Wales coach Craig Bellamy told the Guardian he did not expect the club verdict to distract Haaland. Bellamy called him ‘a machine’ and pointed to his international scoring record while discussing the threat Norway posed.

Bellamy also said Wales needed to improve after a 2-0 defeat by Denmark on Sunday. He told the Guardian he had not recognised his team’s play in Copenhagen and took responsibility for its lack of clarity. Norway captain Martin Ødegaard was a doubt for Thursday’s game after a challenge in the Portugal match, according to the Guardian; Solbakken said Ødegaard would test himself in training.

What the Manchester City ruling established

In its statement on the commission’s decision, the Premier League said City was found guilty of all charges concerning serious financial-rule breaches over the 2009/10 to 2017/18 seasons, as well as most charges concerning its failure to cooperate with the league’s investigation. The league said the commission found that commercial and other agreements had inflated reported revenue and reduced costs, and that City had filed misstated accounts.

The Premier League attributed an effect of more than £900 million on reported revenue and costs to the schemes examined by the commission. It said the commission found substantial breaches of Premier League and UEFA spending limits. City continues to deny wrongdoing, the BBC reported. Haaland joined the club in 2022, after the period covered by the financial findings; the ruling does not accuse him of involvement in those arrangements.

The league said a separate hearing would address sanctions and that its rules allow fines, points deductions and other sporting penalties. It also said City had until Friday, 2 October, to appeal the findings. No sanction or appeal outcome had been announced in the cited reports. For Norway, the immediate question is a football one: Haaland’s colleagues say he remains focused as the team prepares to play in Cardiff.