With Antoine Semenyo reportedly close to completing his £64 million move from Bournemouth to Manchester City, we look at what the winger will bring to the Etihad Stadium.
As signoffs go, it was right up there.
The unfortunate reality for clubs like Bournemouth is that when you have a superstar on your hands, the vultures will inevitably circle.
And that has happened with Antoine Semenyo, who is reportedly close to completing a move to Manchester City for a fee of around £64 million.
With everyone at the Vitality Stadium aware of the fact the Ghana international would likely be playing his last game for the club on Wednesday, there was quite the let off when he fired in a 95th-minute winner as Bournemouth secured a 3-2 comeback win over Tottenham, ending an 11-game run without a victory in the league (D5 L6).
It was Bournemouth’s second-latest ever winning goal in a Premier League match, after Luis Sinisterra vs Everton in August 2024 (95:37), and was the perfect way to say goodbye.
It was also a typical Semenyo goal, picking up the ball on the corner of the Spurs box before getting it out of his feet and firing low and hard into the far corner.
He was congratulated by his soon-to-be former teammates and serenaded by the Bournemouth fans, who were sad to see him leaving but grateful that he had been with them at all.
It has been quite the rise for Semenyo. He started his career at Bristol City, where he recorded 21 goals and 22 assists in 125 games, having also had loan spells at Bath City, Newport County and Sunderland, before moving to Bournemouth in January 2023 for a reported £10m. In total, he played 110 games for the south-coast club, scoring 32 goals and adding 11 assists.
Cherries boss Andoni Iraola waxed lyrical about Semenyo after Wednesday’s victory, saying to BBC Sport: “He has been, if not the best, one of the best I have coached.
“He has improved every single season. He has scored 10 goals in half a season and he’s not even a number nine.
“It is not just the numbers but a lot of things – the physicality, the balls in the air and the defensive things. He will be a big miss.”
Semenyo leaves Bournemouth with 40 goal involvements in the Premier League (30 goals, 10 assists), joint-fourth with Dominic Solanke for the most in the competition for the club, only behind Josh King (62), Callum Wilson (53) and Ryan Fraser (42).
The reason City have paid the money for him, reportedly fighting off competition from Manchester United and Liverpool among others, is that Semenyo has been one of the best-performing players in the Premier League in recent times.
He has 10 goals in the league this season, and is one of only three players to have reached double figures, along with Erling Haaland (20) and Igor Thiago (16).
He’s outscoring his expected goals (xG) by 3.36 (10 goals from 6.64 xG), but he does have the sixth highest xG on target (xGOT) in the Premier League (7.88), which measures the likelihood of an on-target shot resulting in a goal, based on the combination of the underlying chance quality and the end location of the shot within the goalmouth. It gives more credit to shots that end up in the corners than shots that go straight down the middle of the goal.
The difference between Semenyo’s xG and his xGOT this season suggests that he is taking shots from difficult areas to score from, but his shots are often of high enough quality to turn them into better chances.
That could be very handy for a Man City side struggling to find the net in their last few games. Their two goals in their last three Premier League matches – against Sunderland, Chelsea and Brighton – were only enough for three points from a possible nine, handing Arsenal a huge advantage in the Premier League title race.
Reports suggest that leaving Semenyo at Bournemouth for the last three games helped smooth negotiations so City didn’t have to pay his £65m release clause in one go, but he might have made a big difference for City given they consistently struggled to find a way to get the ball into their opponents’ net.
City racked up 2.24 xG against Sunderland, 1.02 xG against Chelsea and 2.55 xG against Brighton (1.77 excluding the penalty). That’s just two goals from 5.81 xG, coming from 49 shots in total.
This season has not just been a purple patch for Semenyo. He was directly involved in 21 Premier League goals (15 goals, 6 assists) in 2025, the first ever Bournemouth player to have more than 20 goals and assists combined in a calendar year in the competition.
In 2025, only Haaland (33), Mohamed Salah (24) and Bryan Mbeumo (22) had more goal involvements in the Premier League than him, while nobody scored as many goals from fast breaks in the competition last year as his five.
That is particularly interesting as City have seemingly changed the way they attack this season, more inclined to counter-attack and attempt fast breaks, which could explain why they have been eager to bring Semenyo to the Etihad.
Last season, only five teams in the Premier League took fewer shots from fast breaks than City (28). They have already had 24 this season in 21 games; only four teams have had more.
Their average of 1.14 shots from fast breaks per game this season is the most City have had since Guardiola arrived in 2016, and they have never before averaged more than 1.0 in any campaign under the Spaniard. Semenyo will likely only add to further to this evolution.
Only five players have more progressive carries of at least 10 metres in the Premier League this season than Semenyo (89), one of whom is Jérémy Doku. Having his wide men carry the ball is a key thing for Guardiola these days, and only three players have attempted more than Semenyo’s 77 dribbles (33 successful – 42.9%).
Semenyo can also help Haaland with the load when it comes to shooting. The Norwegian has attempted 83 of City’s 305 shots in the league this season (27.2%), almost twice as many as the next most (Phil Foden, 44). Semenyo recorded the third-most shots in the Premier League last season (125), and only five players have attempted more than his 49 in 2025-26.
It is important to Guardiola that his players work tirelessly out of possession too, and Semenyo does just that. He has won possession in the final third more often than any City player this season (14) – though the fact City have the ball more often than Bournemouth must be taken into account – but he can perhaps be a bit too overzealous to get the ball back. Only Wolves midfielder João Gomes (41) has committed more fouls in the Premier League this season than Semenyo (38). He also conceded the most fouls in the league last season (73).
His signing will come at an opportune time for City, with Guardiola confirming that Savinho is expected to miss the next two months with an injury suffered in the draw at Sunderland. That Semenyo can play on the left or right will give his new manager the option to play him on either side. Since the start of last season, he has played 52% of his Premier League minutes as a left winger and 40% as a right winger.
Should Guardiola prefer the balance he gets from having Rayan Cherki on the right, as he has in recent games, the possibility of having either Doku or Semenyo to come on to replace each other or Cherki late in the game is a tantalising one, and a terrifying one for opposition full-backs.
Semenyo can play on either side because he is equally comfortable on either foot. Of his 49 shots this season, 24 have been with his left foot and 23 with his right (two headers), giving him an unpredictability that few other players can match. Haaland is very tough to stop, but at least defenders know he’ll almost always be trying to get onto his left foot.
Arriving at one of the world’s best teams, Semenyo will have the chance to show his full potential. Getting to work under Guardiola must have been a draw for him, especially now that City are playing in a way that will likely suit his game.
The rest is up to him.
Subscribe to our football newsletter to receive exclusive weekly content. You can also follow our social accounts over on X, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
With Man City Embracing Direct Play, Two-Footed Antoine Semenyo Could Be a Perfect Fit Opta Analyst.
Hence then, the article about with man city embracing direct play two footed antoine semenyo could be a perfect fit was published today ( ) and is available on The Analyst ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( With Man City Embracing Direct Play, Two-Footed Antoine Semenyo Could Be a Perfect Fit )
Also on site :
- Several Denver-area gas stations pumped contaminated fuel this week, King Soopers warns
- Diesel was mistakenly distributed instead of regular unleaded at many Colorado gas pumps
- Man police shot in Brooklyn hospital was former NYPD officer, police said