Manchester City forward Antoine Semenyo is expected to be out of action for up to eight weeks because of a leg injury, manager Enzo Maresca stated on Monday.
The Ghana international sustained the injury during City’s recent 3-2 victory over Ipswich, a win that extended their perfect start to the Premier League season to seven consecutive matches.
Speaking ahead of the team’s Champions League match against AEK Athens, Maresca provided positive updates on the fitness of Erling Haaland, Mateo Kovacic, Matheus Nunes, and Nico O’Reilly, but expressed concern over Semenyo’s condition.
“The rest are more or less all OK,” Maresca said. “The only one that will be out for probably eight weeks is Antoine.”
Despite the lengthy potential absence, Semenyo has undergone a scan, which Maresca described as “not as bad as we expected.”
Regarding star striker Haaland, who was observed limping after the Ipswich game, Maresca indicated he could be available. “He can be available, we will see, we have a (training) session now. We have some doubts after Sunday’s game. He was quite good yesterday, better. So we will see today,” he explained.
Maresca acknowledged the difficulty of losing Semenyo or any player. “First of all to lose Antonine or any player for us, it is not good.” He added that while Semenyo could have played as a number nine, the team would explore other options if needed, though he emphasized that Haaland is the primary choice. “At the moment it is Erling, why do we need to think about a different nine when Erling is there?”
Maresca has made history by becoming the first manager to win his opening seven Premier League games at a new club. This impressive league run occurs amidst ongoing allegations of over 100 breaches of financial rules, charges that City denies and regarding which Maresca has expressed full trust in the club.
However, City suffered a 4-2 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in their last Champions League fixture. Maresca stressed that there would be no attempt to shield players from injury risks against AEK. “It is a huge game, tomorrow for us,” he stated. “It is a Champions League game, unfortunately we lost the last one, we need to win games and we are going to try to win the game with our best players at this moment.”
