Haaland, De Bruyne: What Man City Star Was Doing During World Cup Break

• Erling Haaland was bored when his Manchester City teammates left him as they headed to Qatar for the World Cup
• The striker made a Kevin De Bruyne dummy and tried to call Jack Grealish as he waited for their return
• De Bruyne has already returned to training and was on target in a friendly game against Girona

A new bittersweet video has shown how much Erling Haaland missed his Manchester City teammates, especially Kevin De Bruyne, during the World Cup break.

Haaland was among the few Manchester City players who remained behind as the rest of the players linked up with their respective national teams in Qatar.

Norway did not qualify for the World Cup which meant that Haaland, alongside Arsenal's captain Martin Odegaard, were some of the big stars absent.

The former Borussia Dortmund striker was in sensational form before the break. He has so far managed to rack up 18 goals in the Premier League alone with his partnership with De Bruyne proving fruitful.

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What Haaland was doing

In the video by Sky Sports, Haaland is seen moving around with a lawnmower at City's training ground explaining how bored he is without his teammates. He tries to call Jack Grealish but the England forward is unavailable.

The 22-year-old also has one dummy donned in a De Bruyne jersey and hugs it tellingly. The pair were reunited on Saturday when Manchester City beat Girona in a midseason friendly. And unsurprisingly, both of them were on target.

De Bruyne had a disastrous World Cup campaign as Belgium were eliminated in the group stage. City return to action on Thursday when they play Liverpool in the Carabao Cup.

Haaland's messages to Jude Bellingham

Sports Brief had earlier reported that Erling Haaland has been sending messages of support to England star Jude Bellingham at the ongoing 2022 FIFA World Cup being hosted in Qatar.

Erling Haaland sends encouraging World Cup message to England star

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Bellingham and Haaland were teammates at Borussia Dortmund before the Norwegian secured a big move to English Premier League champions Manchester City last summer.

The 19-year-old English midfielder revealed Haaland has been in constant contact with him, sending him encouraging messages prior to England’s World Cup matches.