Antoine Semenyo: Bournemouth’s Latest Star in a Post-Solanke World

Bournemouth may have lost Dominic Solanke over the summer, but early signs suggest Antoine Semenyo is ready to shoulder the attacking burden.

Dominic Solanke’s 2023-24 campaign was the best season of his career. While he’d been incredibly deadly in the English Championship, he’d never proven he could consistently score goals in the Premier League. That changed last season, with Solanke scoring 19 goals as the Cherries enjoyed their highest top-flight finish in six years. His performances earned him a big-money move to Tottenham this summer.

Replacing that level of output is difficult. Enes Ünal was signed on loan as cover for Solanke in January – a move that Bournemouth made permanent this summer – but he has struggled with injuries. Evanilson, who they signed for a club-record fee from Porto in August, is clearly the intended long-term heir to Solanke, but he will understandably take time to find his feet.

In the meantime, then, Andoni Iraola needs his other forwards to shoulder some of that attacking burden. And the early signs are that one man in particular, Antoine Semenyo, is poised to do just that.

Semenyo, who is now a Premier League regular and Ghana international, has endured an unconventional rise to the top of the game. After being rejected by several academies as a youngster, Semenyo was close to quitting football altogether. Taken under the wing of Dave Hockaday, a former Leeds manager, he found a home at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College’s football academy. Performances there earned him a move to Bristol City in 2017, and from there his professional career took off.

His time at Ashton Gate was marked by valuable loan spells at Newport County and Sunderland, but it was under Nigel Pearson in Bristol that he really shone. After one and a half excellent seasons, Bournemouth came knocking in January 2023.

Semenyo’s debut campaign on the south coast was chequered with injuries, but he really thrived last season under Iraola and seems to have taken his game to an even better level this term.

A versatile and explosive forward, Semenyo is most at home playing off the right, but is capable of playing anywhere across the front three. He moonlighted as Bournemouth’s centre-forward in their opening game of the season against Nottingham Forest to good effect, scoring late to rescue a point.

But he’s been electric on the right wing. What stands out immediately when looking at Semenyo’s early-season production is his shot volume. The Ghanian has fired off 17 shots in his three games, more than anyone else in the league, including the shot monster himself Erling Haaland (13).

That’s a rate of 5.7 shots per 90 minutes for Semenyo, which is almost double what he managed across 2023-24 (3.0). Yes, we’re dealing with a small sample size here so that rate is unlikely to stay that high but it does point to the fact that he’s been able to get into more dangerous positions. It also underlines an increased confidence and an awareness that someone needs to replace the attacking threat that Solanke provided last year.

Speaking of getting into dangerous areas, his touches in the opposition box have also jumped up significantly from last year, with Semenyo adding a box-crashing element to his game. Late runs into the box while the ball is on the opposite wing have been a feature of his early matches in 2024-25.

What sets Semenyo apart is his ability to carry the ball at pace while maintaining control. That makes him one of the most dangerous ball-carriers in the league.

He leads all players this season for total shots following a ball carry (running with the ball for at least five metres), with seven. Jinking inside on to his left foot has been a common sight for Semenyo thus far, and his ability to fashion shooting opportunities for himself is at least partly how he’s managed to attempt so many shots already.

With a further four chances laid on for teammates, Semenyo has created 11 shooting opportunities overall following his carries – more than anyone else in the league.  

Semenyo not only uses his fantastic ball carrying to generate chances at the sharp end of the pitch, but it’s also a great tool for progressing his side up the pitch. Semenyo has completed 25 progressive carries (moving with the ball at least 10m upfield) this season for Bournemouth, a tally only central defender Illia Zabarnyi can better (32), and it should be said that defenders always rank highly in this category given they have a lot more space to work with.

Excluding defenders, only two Premier League players – Jérémy Doku (1,083m) and Mateo Kovacic (683m) – have carried the ball a further overall distance than Semenyo (654m) this season.

Under Iraola, Bournemouth have adopted an intense style of play, looking to press opponents high up the pitch and exploit turnovers with direct attacks.

When they win the ball back, they attack quickly – getting the ball forward faster (2.14 metres/second) than any other Premier League side – and frequently look for Semenyo to do the damage. So far this season, he’s received the most passes (86), most forward passes (46) and most passes entering the final third (17) of all Bournemouth players.

From there his ability to carry the ball at speed and his instinct to shoot quickly fit into Iraola’s game plan. Eight of his 17 shots have come in transition, a higher total than anyone else in the division. In other words: he clearly gets the memo.

Semenyo has been the focal point of a Bournemouth team that have come flying out the blocks. With 5.85 expected goals they are third behind only Man City (7.11) and Liverpool (7.10) for attacking threat and they remain unbeaten through three games.

At the heart of that is Semenyo, who looks primed for a big season.

He started 25 games in the league last term but completed just 10 of them. Having played every minute of Bournemouth’s early campaign, there are signs that he’s becoming their main man in attack.

If his early-season form is anything to go by, Bournemouth could have another star on their hands. Unfortunately, that probably means they might have a hard time keeping hold of him for much longer.

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