Dunne warns Maresca that losing Haaland would force City to rip up their tactics before derby

Richard Dunne has warned Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca that the club’s failure to sign a backup centre-forward during the summer window leaves them dangerously exposed ahead of Sunday’s Premier League derby against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

City broke the Premier League transfer record this summer, spending £458m on new arrivals including midfielders Enzo Fernandez, Elliot Anderson and Ayyoub Bouaddi. Yet despite that outlay, Erling Haaland remains the squad’s only recognised striker — a situation Dunne believes could prove costly.

“They’ve now only got Erling Haaland as a centre-forward and no back-up in that position,” the former City skipper said. “Their tactics would have to change if they were to drop Haaland or play without him for whatever reason, because none of those names are out-and-out strikers.”

Haaland has already scored four times this season and is expected to start at Old Trafford. Dunne acknowledged the structural difficulty of recruiting cover for the Norwegian, noting that any striker capable of deputising for him would be unlikely to accept a bench role week after week.

“If you’re a striker at City, you’re going to be one of the best strikers in the world. And if you’re one of the best strikers in the world, you’re not going to want to be sitting on the bench every week — it’s not the ideal role for most players.”

Dunne did identify potential makeshift options should Haaland be unavailable. He pointed to Phil Foden as a candidate to operate as a false nine, while suggesting Rayan Cherki could function just off the front line. He also highlighted summer arrivals Iliman Ndiaye and Antoine Semenyo as players capable of providing cover in forward areas, though he was clear neither is a natural centre-forward.

The former defender also flagged full-back depth as a separate area of concern, noting that City have gone several years without a specialist in that position. He cited Josko Gvardiol, Nico O’Reilly, Abdukodir Khusanov, Matheus Nunes and Rico Lewis as options across the back line — players with the numbers to provide cover, but not the positional purity Dunne believes the role demands.

With City heading into the derby having invested heavily in midfield creativity, the question of what happens if their talisman is unavailable remains the one structural vulnerability Dunne believes the club’s record spending has left unresolved.