Antoine Semenyo wants to wrap up a move to Manchester City as soon as possible, which may well mean he misses Bournemouth’s upcoming game against Arsenal.
Bournemouth winger Antoine Semenyo is on the verge of ending the recent transfer saga surrounding him by completing a move to Manchester City, but the exact date the move becomes official could be significant to Arsenal.
That’s because Arsenal play Bournemouth next weekend on January 3rd at the Vitality Stadium. If Semenyo has left by then, he’ll obviously be unavailable.
Sami Mokbel reports for the BBC’s Football Focus show that Semenyo indeed wants his move to City wrapped up by January 1st, two days before the Arsenal game, with formal steps to complete the transfer expected imminently.
Yet Bournemouth are keen for Semenyo to stay and keep playing up until the deadline for his release clause of January 10th. That would allow him to face Arsenal, as well as Tottenham Hotspur (January 7th) and potentially Newcastle United (January 10th).
Bournemouth’s desires might not matter much, assuming City intend to activate Semenyo’s £65m release clause. If they activate the clause, Bournemouth have no way of stopping the transfer.
City’s motivations might be somewhat jumbled by the fact they’re in a title race with Arsenal. If they just delay the Semenyo deal by a few days, it may help Bournemouth take points off the Gunners.
On the other hand, City themselves play Chelsea that weekend. It would be better for Pep Guardiola’s side to have Semenyo available to potentially make the difference in that fixture.
David Ornstein recently reported for The Athletic that Arsenal were believed to have been Semenyo’s first-choice club if they’d been firmly at the table, but the Gunners never really went in for him.
Arsenal were more interested in a potential summer move, and the 25-year-old wasn’t willing to wait that long.