Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca has admitted Erling Haaland will need a late fitness test before Tuesday’s Champions League meeting with AEK Athens, but there will be no Antoine Semenyo as the winger begins a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
No fewer than five City players ended Saturday’s chaotic 3–2 win over Ipswich Town with injury concerns. Mateo Kovačić, Nico O’Reilly and Matheus Nunes are all thought to have avoided any real problems, but concerns over Haaland and Semenyo linger.
Maresca confirmed a foot injury has left him facing a nervous wait over Haaland.
“He can be available,” Maresca said optimistically. “We will see. We have some doubts. He was quite good yesterday.”
Things took a turn when asked about Semenyo. The winger only entered Saturday’s game with 13 minutes to go but still suffered an injury that is expected to keep him sidelined for the next eight weeks.
“In the first moment, we expected a worse injury, after yesterday’s scan, we feel better,” Maresca admitted. “It will be eight weeks, so when he is back in December, it will be like a new player. To lose Antoine, or any player, is not good.
“In terms of Erling, we said we can use Antoine as a 9 but we have different players to try. We will see, at the moment it is Erling, we don’t need to think about another one.”
Semenyo’s Absence Limits Options to Replace Haaland
Finding somebody prepared to operate as Haaland’s understudy is far easier said than done. City’s squad does not even include another natural striker, with nobody prepared to accept a role that brings about a drastic reduction in minutes behind one of the best in the world in the position.
Julián Alvarez and Omar Marmoush have both quickly ended experiments as City’s backup striker over the past few seasons, with the latter offloaded to Tottenham Hotspur in the summer because of a confidence that Semenyo could fill in centrally when needed. Losing the former Bournemouth forward complicates things significantly.
If Haaland is unavailable against AEK Athens or beyond—City travel to Aston Villa on Saturday—Maresca is going to have to turn to an unorthodox option to lead his line or rotate with his injury-stricken Norwegian if necessary.
Chief among the options available would be Phil Foden, who spent plenty of time as a central option during the 2021–22 season in the immediate aftermath of Pep Guardiola’s tearful claim that they could not replace the departing Sergio Agüero.
“For sure he can be one of the solutions,” Maresca said of Foden. “He has played there in the past.”
Aside from Foden, Maresca may have to ask wingers Iliman Ndiaye or Jérémy Doku to play centrally, or he could attempt to deploy attacking midfielder Rayan Cherki as a false nine—a role he did occupy on rare occasions at Lyon. One of those will, however, be needed to replace Semenyo on the left for the foreseeable future.
Maresca did use 17-year-old Floyd Samba as his starting striker in the Carabao Cup victory over Norwich City in September but, despite watching the natural midfielder net two goals, is likely to prioritize more senior options here.
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