Why free-scoring Antoine Semenyo is a game-changer for Man City: £65m signing can emulate Riyad Mahrez & Raheem Sterling by easing burden on Erling Haaland - but it's goodbye Savinho!

Most of Semenyo’s new team-mates have been playing at the highest level since their early 20s, if not before, and came through the top academies in Europe. But the Ghana international has taken a very different, much harder route to the Etihad Stadium. Arsenal and Tottenham rejected him after trials and he couldn’t even make the grade at Millwall. Crystal Palace spent eight weeks assessing him but also said no.

But former footballer and coach David Hockaday had watched him during one of those unsuccessful trials and sensed that there was a player there. He told The Athletic how he approached his family and encouraged Semenyo to move from his home in Greenwich in London to Swindon and study sport science at Wiltshire Sports Academy and play for South Gloucestershire and Stroud College, where Hockaday ran a team which would play against club academies. 

After Semenyo shredded Bristol City’s youngsters in one game, Hockaday eventually persuaded them to take on the forward. After loan spells at non-league Bath City, Newport County in League Two and Sunderland in League One, he returned to Bristol more equipped to handle Championship football. When Nigel Pearson became coach during his first season back, he gave Semenyo some very simple but very effective advice: "Your best ability is running and shooting, so all you need to do is run and shoot!"

Semenyo took that advice on board and the following season he contributed to 20 league goals. Midway through the next campaign he joined Bournemouth for £10m. 

"I’ve had to be a strong character," Semenyo said of his tough journey to the top after joining City. "Emotionally and mentally, I’ve had to get really strong. I have my family, friends and fiancée around me – keeping me uplifted and always pushing me. I’ve had to push myself quite a bit to get through a lot of hard times – it’s made me the man I am today; strong, fearless and ready to attack the world."

Attack the world is just what he did at Bournemouth. He got eight goals and two assists in his first full season in the Premier League and then 11 goals and five assists last campaign. He almost matched that tally barely halfway through this season, his 10 goals only being bettered by Haaland and Brentford’s Igor Thiago, both centre-forwards. 

It means he arrives at City with more goal contributions than every player besides Haaland, while his numbers put his fellow wide forwards to shame. Cherki has two goals although his seven assists are what have stood out, while Doku has one goal plus four assists. Bernardo Silva, Omar Marmoush, Savinho and Oscar Bobb have failed to score in the Premier League. 

Phil Foden is the nearest challenger to Haaland and now Semenyo with seven goals, although his recent performances have been poor, falling flat as City have drawn their last three games to fall six points behind Arsenal in the title race.

Semenyo’s arrival immediately boosts City’s chances of catching Arsenal, even if the Gunners remain the favourites to win the title. Semenyo also turbo charges their hopes of winning the Champions League. But his main impact should be long-term, making City less reliant on Haaland and still capable of winning matches when the prolific Norwegian is kept quiet.

City’s main strength in their first four title wins under Guardiola, before Haaland arrived, was that opponents never knew who to focus on stopping as the goals could come from so many sources. If Sergio Aguero didn’t get you, then Raheem Sterling would. Gabriel Jesus could take the baton from Aguero but if he hadn’t brought his shooting boots then Leroy Sane and Riyad Mahrez could always be relied upon. 

When City amassed a record 100 points in 2017-18, six players scored eight goals or more: Sane struck 10 times and Raheem Sterling 18 to back up Sergio Aguero’s 21 strikes and Gabriel Jesus’ 13. When City retained the title the following year and reached 98 points, six players got seven or more goals, with Sane again reaching double figures with Sterling getting 17 while Aguero again led the way with 21. 

The 2019-20 season, when City surrendered their crown to Liverpool, the goals were spread out even more evenly, with six players getting 11 or more and Sterling usurping Aguero as the team’s chief goal-getter. Aguero barely featured in his final season but City were still able to win reclaim their title thanks to six players chipping in with at least seven league goals.

City often played without a centre-forward in 2021-22 but won the title again as eight players got seven goals or more. Haaland’s arrival that summer changed the make up of the attack as he was mostly responsible for finding the net but still six players got seven goals or more as City won a third successive title and completed the treble. 

That number reduced to five players in the 2023-24 season but Foden’s 19 goals and Julian Alvarez’s 11, plus Rodri stepping up with eight. But last season it was not a healthy balance as only three players scored seven or more goals. By the start of last November, Burnley’s Maxime Esteve was City’s second-top scorer in the league behind Haaland thanks to his two own goals in one game. Foden and Tijjani Reijnders have since stepped up but they have been crying out for a player of Semenyo’s ruthlessness in the final third.

"We are constantly watching players all over the world," said City’s sporting director Hugo Viana after signing Semenyo. "Antoine was the one we most wanted. He has shown he can perform in the Premier League. He is humble, hard-working, professional and totally focused on being a better footballer. He is ideal for us. He has huge quality. Two great feet, pace, power, a habit of influencing games and, importantly, real room for growth and development. I am excited to see the player Antoine can become in the weeks, months and years ahead."

Semenyo’s quality with both feet and an ability to be equally effective on either wing is one of his greatest assets. Semenyo would play one game on the right of Bournemouth’s attack and then be on the left in the next, while he would even swap flanks during games, such as when he shredded Luke Shaw down the right wing to break a three-month goal drought during the epic 4-4 draw against Manchester United, having started on the left.

Guardiola pointed to Semenyo’s ambidexterity just after he signed. "He can play on both sides, right and left, uses both legs unbelievably," he said. "He played extraordinary in Bournemouth in the last years. And at striker as well he can play with his pace. He knows the Premier League, many clubs wanted him and he decided to join us so only I can say is thanks to him."

Savinho and Oscar Bobb are the players who are most likely to suffer from Semenyo’s arrival. Both are injured at the moment but the club have been looking to find a loan move for Bobb. Savinho is set to be out for at least two months after suffering a muscle injury against Sunderland but Semenyo’s arrival spells the end for a player who is one of City’s most thrilling players… until he gets into the area. 

His two missed chances in quick succession just before getting injured at Sunderland aptly summed up his career at the Etihad Stadium: he has repeatedly shown an impressive ability to beat defenders and create chances but he has often failed to take them.

The Brazilian has only scored five goals in all competitions since joining from Troyes in the summer of 2024, with only one of those coming in the Premier League. He got eight assists last season but has set up just one league goal this term, failing to score in the league or Champions League. His only goals have come in the Carabao Cup, with his last against Brentford benefitting from a massive deflection. 

Guardiola said after the Brentford game: "The final decision can be better, of course, but I always reward this work ethic and especially because he goes and he goes all the time. And in time we will improve the final decision and he will become a top, top class player."

Actions speak louder than words though and City’s decision to sign Semenyo means Savinho’s days at the club are numbered. He was interested in moving to Tottenham when they made a bid for him in the summer but City said no as they would have needed to find a replacement. It is difficult not to see Semenyo as the replacement for Savinho and, unlike the Brazilian, no one can doubt their new signing's killer instinct.