{"id":109242,"date":"2025-12-31T04:31:34","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T04:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=109242"},"modified":"2025-12-31T04:31:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T04:31:34","slug":"not-semenyos-last-game-says-iraola-as-man-city-close-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=109242","title":{"rendered":"Not Semenyo\u2019s \u2018last game\u2019, says Iraola as Man City close in"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Manchester City\u00a0are close to agreeing terms with\u00a0Bournemouth\u00a0to sign Antoine Semenyo for \u00a365m \u2013 but Andoni Iraola insists the forward has \u201cdefinitely not\u201d played his last game for the Cherries.<\/strong><\/p>\n

City\u2019s move for the Ghana forward, 25, is at an advanced stage with talks over the past 48 hours aimed at closing the finer details of the deal.<\/p>\n

They have agreed to meet Semenyo\u2019s \u00a365m release clause, while the player\u2019s representatives were in Manchester on Monday finalising personal terms.<\/p>\n

Discussions continued on Tuesday, with sources indicating a total agreement is now close with the January transfer window due to open on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Semenyo, who played the full 90 minutes of the\u00a02-2 draw with Chelsea\u00a0on Tuesday, has been\u00a0keen for his future to be resolved by 1 January.<\/p>\n

However, Iraola is adamant the attacker will play against\u00a0Arsenal\u00a0on Saturday, 3 January.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a massive player for us and he will still be with us,\u201d the\u00a0Bournemouth\u00a0boss told BBC Match of the Day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not the last game he has played for us, definitely not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sources have told BBC Sport\u00a0Bournemouth\u00a0want him to play against the Gunners and then\u00a0Tottenham\u00a0on Wednesday, 7 January before the release mechanism in his deal elapses on 10 January.<\/p>\n

As reported by BBC Sport on Sunday,\u00a0Liverpool\u00a0retain an interest in Semenyo but, unless the Premier League champions launch a late bid, he is heading to City.<\/p>\n

Despite interest from five clubs, including\u00a0Chelsea,\u00a0Manchester United\u00a0and\u00a0Tottenham, City remain the only one to have made formal contact with\u00a0Bournemouth.<\/p>\n

\u2018It is like losing two or three players\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although Semenyo conceded a penalty in the draw at Chelsea, he showed what Bournemouth will be missing should he leave with his two long throws into the box leading to the visitors\u2019 two goals.<\/p>\n

At the end of the match, he applauded the away fans in what appeared to be a goodbye to them, with several of his team-mates also coming over to hug him.<\/p>\n

Semenyo has scored nine goals and provided three assists for Bournemouth this season, and team-mate David Brooks said his departure will be a big loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to sit here and say he doesn\u2019t leave a hole,\u201d the Wales international told BBC Match of the Day.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s our top scorer and he\u2019s been a very, very good player for us over the past couple of years.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone loves Ants in our team and if he\u2019s going to join someone else we wish him all the best, he\u2019s earned it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Chelsea and Blackburn striker Chris Sutton added on BBC Radio 5 Live: \u201cThree and a half outstanding seasons as a Bournemouth player \u2013 the issue Andoni Iraola\u2019s got is how do you replace him? How do you replace his numbers?<\/p>\n

\u201cA phenomenal player who\u2019ll go with the Bournemouth fans\u2019 best wishes. He\u2019s been a top player for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ex-Aston Villa and Manchester United striker Dion Dublin said Semenyo\u2019s exit would feel like losing more than just one player for Bournemouth.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a manager you can think to yourself, \u2018bring the money in, I back myself as a coach\u2019, and I\u2019m sure Iraola does,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Semenyo is such a big player that it is like losing two or three players.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"AntoineManchester City\u00a0are close to agreeing terms with\u00a0Bournemouth\u00a0to sign Antoine Semenyo for \u00a365m – but Andoni Iraola insists the forward has “definitely not” played his last game for the Cherries.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1964,2578,5051,10,9,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comp-sports","category-composition","category-hp-sports-1","category-politics","category-popular","category-sports"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=109242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109242\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=109242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=109242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=109242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}