Sebastian Kehl on Erling Haaland’s injury: “At the moment he is not able to train let alone play”

Sebastian Kehl has given an update on the status of Erling Haaland, who continues to struggle with a thigh injury. 

Borussia Dortmund head of players department Sebastian Kehl has said that they must not take any risks with Erling Haaland’s injury, as the striker is not able to take part in training let alone play at the moment.

Haaland suffered a thigh injury in training last week and has missed each of Borussia Dortmund’s last three games as a result. The 21 year old was named in Norway’s squad for the upcoming international break, and they were holding out hope of having him available for their crunch World Cup qualifiers against Turkey and Montenegro. But Haaland announced on Monday that his injury will prevent him from taking part in those games. And Kehl has said that Haaland should be given the necessary time to fully recover from his injury.

"“At the moment, Erling is not able to train let alone play a game,” Kehl told Kicker on Sunday. “With all due understanding for the interests of the federation, we must not take any risks with him right now.”"

As for Haaland’s return to action, Kehl expects the Norwegian international to be fit again in time for Borussia Dortmund’s Bundesliga clash against Mainz 05 in two weeks. The hope will be that he can return to training next week.

Marco Rose also called for patience regarding Haaland’s injury after Borussia Dortmund’s 1-0 win over FC Augsburg on Saturday. The Borussia Dortmund head coach added that the striker is not a machine.

Haaland has scored 11 goals in eight appearances across all competitions for Borussia Dortmund so far this season. He has also found the net five times in just three appearances for Norway this season.