Antoine Semenyo is someone very highly admired by Richard Hughes. It was the Liverpool sporting director who brought him to the Premier League while he was playing at Bristol City.
Semenyo has since exploded and has become one of the best wingers in England’s top flight.
Now it seems like Hughes is planning for a reunion. Just as he did with Milos Kerkez in the summer window, who was also another player he brought to the Premier League and became hugely successful at Bournemouth.
Semenyo is now 25-years-old and he will be wanting a big move. He’s ready for the next step in his career and Liverpool is pretty much tailor-made for him.
He’s someone who plays with a lot of intensity. He will press high and make a lot of recoveries.
At the same time he thrives in one vs one situations and can both exploit space as well as work in tight spaces, using his ability to be comfortable on both feet to his advantage.
Bournemouth will not want to let him go. But they also know the reality of their situation. They will not want to stand in his way. Just like they didn’t stand in Dean Huijsen’s, Ilya Zabarnyi’s or Kerkez’s way in the summer.
Tim Bezbatchenko, the general manager at Bournemouth, was speaking on the Business of Sport podcast when he admitted that it would be hard to keep a star player from making a ‘dream’ move to a club like Liverpool.
“When a club like Real Madrid, Liverpool, PSG come in and they’re competing for Champions League positions, who are we to say, ‘No, you can’t go, you can’t fulfil your dream’,” he said. “No it wouldn’t be like that for all clubs because not everyone is Real Madrid.
“But there is an opportunity and everybody wins right? I think that’s what we’re trying to find, this commonality where everybody can win.”
This pretty much opens the door for Liverpool to sign Semenyo. It’s a clear statement from a club chief that they are not going to stand in his way should he want to move to Anfield.