Erling Haaland’s chances of captaining Manchester City this season seem to have been ruled out.

According to Enzo Maresca, Haaland scores too many goals to become Manchester City’s new captain.

The Norway forward has scored 162 goals in only 198 matches since completing his £51m move from Borussia Dortmund in June 2022.

Haaland has played a major role in City winning six major trophies over the past four seasons, along with collecting several individual honours, and he is set to be an important figure for new manager Maresca in 2026/27 after the Italian succeeded Pep Guardiola this summer.

Haaland’s value to City had appeared to make him one of the main candidates to take over as club captain after former skipper Bernardo Silva joined Real Madrid this summer.

The other options were defender Ruben Dias and midfielder Rodri, although the latter may soon drop out of contention if he completes his anticipated move to Barcelona.

However, Maresca indicated that Haaland is not being considered for the captaincy, saying to reporters: “Erling was one of the first to send a message when I joined the club.

“At Leicester and Chelsea, I had a rule that when we scored, the captain had to come to the bench, not to celebrate, for instructions.

“But if he scores, then he can celebrate. So if Erling is the captain, we have a problem. F****** hell, can you imagine?”

Haaland has not yet played under Maresca after being permitted to miss City’s pre-season tour of Asia because of Norway’s run to the World Cup 2026 quarter-finals.

The Italian handed the armband to Phil Foden for the club’s first pre-season friendly against Inter Milan, before Dias captained the team against a K League All-Stars XI and Atletico Madrid — and Maresca’s rule was already visible in the second of those matches.

“If you saw the game on Wednesday, when we scored the first goal, Ruben came over to the bench,” the 46-year-old said.

“I think even if it is two or three minutes, there is always something to adjust.”

Haaland was one of seven players who did not travel to Asia because of their World Cup commitments, but that group — which also includes £116m signing Elliot Anderson, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki — is expected to be included in the squad for the Community Shield against Arsenal in Cardiff on Sunday.