Football writer Ben Bloom explores the new Manchester City forward’s journey from walking away from the game at 15 to emerging as one of the Premier League’s best attackers.
Having failed to convince Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Fulham and Millwall to sign him, it was rejection from Crystal Palace that proved the final straw for Antoine Semenyo. Aged 15, he was done with football forever. Or so he thought.
“I remember getting into the car crying and saying to my dad: ‘Why does this keep happening?’” he recalled to Sky Sports.
An entire year away from the sport followed, before he was lured back through a most unconventional route, joining a college football programme 100 miles from his London home and belatedly breaking into the professional world he had longed to join.
From Bristol City – via loans across the English football pyramid – to AFC Bournemouth and now title-chasers Manchester City, the Ghana international has developed into one of the Premier League’s leading lights: the teenage reject continuing to show it is never too late to realise talent.
Watch: Semenyo's BEST BITS of the season so far
Quitting football
Growing up in the footballing hotspot of south London, Semenyo and the beautiful game went hand-in-hand. A childhood passion created a determination to make it his career; sacrifices were necessary.
“I was going on trial to so many clubs, so I didn’t get to spend time with friends a lot,” he told The Times earlier this year.
“It was straight from school, straight to training, straight from school, straight to training – that was just the routine most days.”
Given the commitment football required, the knock-backs hurt. So, when Palace told him they would be following their various Premier League rivals in not offering him a spot in their academy, tears quickly flowed.
The teenage Semenyo had endured enough. He decided his professional football dream was over.
“I just wanted to be normal again,” he said.
“So that’s essentially why I quit.”
For a while, he lived like any other 15-year-old – enjoying time with friends, focusing on school, playing basketball, eating what he wanted, and letting the restrictions of chasing a football career fade into the distance.
Then his uncle heard about a nearby trial run by former Swindon Town player and Leeds United manager Dave Hockaday, who was in charge of the South Gloucestershire and Stroud College’s football programme.
“I was like: ‘You know, what’s the worst that can happen?’” Semenyo told The Times.
“I hadn’t played for a year prior, so I was a bit overweight, unfit, and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but I ended up going, and that’s the start of my story. The trial went so well. I think I scored in every game that we played.”
He had, by his own admission, fallen back in love with football.
Turning professional
Chasing the footballing dream again, he left home aged 16 and moved from London to Swindon to join Hockaday’s programme, while studying for a BTEC in sports science.
“In the summer, we used to have games against academy teams and I remember scoring against everyone,” Semenyo told Sky Sports.
“I had loads of teams come in for me after that: Bristol [City], Birmingham… [Crystal] Palace came back as well. I picked Bristol because I didn’t want to relocate, and after a two-week trial I got signed.”
A year later, just after his 18th birthday, he signed his first professional contract, committing him to Bristol City.
Watch: Semenyo's goal v Huddersfield
“I remember that day like it was yesterday, and I remember the look on my mum’s face,” he told BBC’s Football Focus.
“She was just so emotional, so happy for me, so proud. That always sticks with me. I’m going to cherish that moment for life.”
A loan spell at Bath City in the National League South (English football’s sixth tier) saw him learn to play “against guys who are much more experienced and just want to kick you”.
There were other loans at Newport County in League Two and Sunderland in League One, before he broke into Bristol City’s first team, lighting up the Championship for two and a half seasons.
Watch: Semenyo's goal for Newport v Chelsea Under-21s
In January 2023, Bournemouth paid a fee reportedly in the region of £10m to bring him into the Premier League.
A Premier League star
Semenyo’s subsequent progress on the south coast was startling. A near-mainstay of Bournemouth’s team ever since joining the club, he has developed into one of the most versatile and dangerous forwards in the Premier League, equally adept on both flanks and using either foot.
Already this season, he has scored 10 times in the league, sitting behind only new Man City team-mate Erling Haaland and Brentford's Igor Thiago on the Premier League top goalscorers list.
That, though, is just a platform. Before the start of each season, Semenyo writes targets he hopes to achieve in a journal. Ahead of the current campaign, his challenge was double figures for both goals and assists, although he recently suggested he would not be happy unless he scores 15 times.
Antoine Semenyo – Season-by-season club performance
| Season | Club | Apps | Goals | Assists | Shot conv. (%) | Dribbles attempted | Chances created |
| 17/18 | Bristol City | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 0 | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18/19 | Bristol City | 4 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 5 | 1 |
| 18/19 | Newport County | 21 | 3 | 2 | 8.6 | 0 | 2 |
| 19/20 | Sunderland | 7 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 9 | 3 |
| 19/20 | Bristol City | 9 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 3 | 2 |
| 20/21 | Bristol City | 44 | 2 | 4 | 4.4 | 101 | 21 |
| 21/22 | Bristol City | 31 | 8 | 12 | 11.4 | 83 | 33 |
| 22/23 | Bristol City | 23 | 6 | 3 | 15.8 | 41 | 10 |
| 22/23 | Bournemouth | 11 | 1 | 0 | 33.3 | 6 | 2 |
| 23/24 | Bournemouth | 33 | 8 | 2 | 11.4 | 117 | 29 |
| 24/25 | Bournemouth | 37 | 11 | 5 | 8.8 | 135 | 46 |
| 25/26 | Bournemouth | 20 | 10 | 3 | 20.4 | 78 | 25 |
Scroll across to see the full table
His drive to improve results is steeped in forensic self-analysis. “I get clips from all the games, every game,” he told The Times.
“I’ve got an analyst to send me videos. I watch them on my own. The game prior to the Everton game [against Newcastle United], I got sent some clips and there were so many opportunities where the back post is being hit, and I wasn’t there to arrive to score. So I was working on it in training, also writing it in the journal.
“And then it got to the Everton game, and all I could think of was what I’d written down in the journal. So it was like, when that moment is right, I’ll make sure I’m there. And the first goal leading to that comeback [Bournemouth won 3-2] I was in that position.”
That desire to progress attracted a host of top clubs, including Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs, to enquire about paying his reported £65 million Bournemouth release clause, which had to be activated in the first 10 days of this January transfer window. It was Man City whose interest became concrete, taking Semenyo to the Etihad Stadium.
Faith, family and setbacks
A devout Christian, Semenyo’s faith remains of paramount importance, and he takes part in frequent Bible study alongside his fellow footballer brother, Jai.
Earlier this year, in a Sky Sports interview alongside Jai – who is currently at French club Lorient – Semenyo explained that their sibling rivalry has also served as a motivator.
The family affair extends beyond his younger brother, with their father Larry playing alongside former Leeds striker Anthony Yeboah in the Ghanaian top flight.
“My dad used to get me kicking anything with both feet, whether it was paper, a can, anything,” Semenyo told Sky Sports.
“At the age of six, I was able to kick with both feet. Now it feels like second nature.”
His unique path – and the setbacks he received along the way – helped create a player unlike any other. Dean Holden, who coached Semenyo at Bristol City, recently told Sky Sports that failing to make it into a Premier League academy at a young age was actually beneficial.
“You can have things coached out of you,” he explained.
“Antoine is different. He has come through the back door, really. He has been able just to progress.”
On a walk around Bournemouth’s training ground last month, Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp asked whether that early rejection was the making of the player we now see today.
“One hundred per cent,” replied Semenyo.
“It’s my mentality now. I have to be resilient. I have to work harder than the next person. I’ve always had that, my whole life. It gives me that extra grit, that extra bite.”
The journey took longer than he wanted, but the knock-backs only made him stronger.