Manchester City have completed the signing of winger Antoine Semenyo from Bournemouth for a fee of £62.5 million.
The 26-year-old, who was born and raised in London but represents Ghana, signs a five and a half year deal at the club, and is reported to have chosen a move to the Etihad Stadium despite interest from Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.
The lure of winning trophies and playing under Pep Guardiola is said to be the main reason behind Semenyo choosing City, and the deal
was completed as sporting director Hugo Viana negotiated his £65 million release clause down to a slightly lower price with an included sell-on fee, and to spread the full payment out across several years.
City haven’t tended to be active in the January transfer window up until last season, where they went crazy with the signings of Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis, Omar Marmoush and Nico Gonzalez for a combined €221 million.
Marmoush, Savinho and Oscar Bobb haven’t performed this season for one reason or another, whilst Semenyo has sparkled for the Cherries and will undoubtedly improve City’s depth and quality in the wide positions.
So here’s where we think he’ll fit in at City.
Semenyo is a direct, physical, forward thinking winger, with fantastic finishing and good end product in general.
He accumulated ten Premier League goals and three assists for Bournemouth before completing his move to the Etihad Stadium, including a stunning late winner in his final game against Tottenham Hotspur (at the same time that City couldn’t find a way past Brighton and Hove Albion.)
This season, Guardiola has been operating with narrower wingers, often playing Phil Foden, Rayan Cherki and Jeremy Doku in central areas when City have possession.
This doesn’t fully suit Semenyo’s game; he is a good one vs one dribbler and likes to stretch teams further wide with his trickery and pace.
Doku, however, has only really played more centrally this season, so there’s time for Semenyo to pick up the skills to play there. He can also operate off either side, and is good with both feet.
The Ghanian also has a super long throw, that caused chaos recently at Stamford Bridge, creating two goals in Bournemouth’s 2-2 draw with Chelsea.
City are one of the few teams in the league to have not adapted to the long throw trend, but Semenyo is certainly one of the best takers in the league so it could be something incorporated into their game.
The main reason City are signing him though is his end product. Semenyo scores goals – only Erling Haaland and Brentford’s Igor Thiago have more than him in the Premier League this season.
With Marmoush being injured and not kicking on from a promising first six months and no other of City’s attackers, with perhaps the exception of Foden, providing regular goals, having a player who knows where the back of the net is is crucially important in taking the goalscoring burden off Haaland.
This will be the main way in which Semenyo will hopefully impact this City side. He’s a talented player who’s enjoyed a meteoric rise in the last few years and will only get better under Pep- it’ll be a pleasure to watch him turn out in sky blue!
