{"id":26702,"date":"2025-04-17T05:30:12","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T05:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/26702\/"},"modified":"2025-04-17T05:30:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T05:30:12","slug":"liverpool-given-antoine-semenyo-verdict-as-former-boss-talks-up-70m-anfield-target","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/26702\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool given Antoine Semenyo verdict as former boss talks up \u00a370m Anfield target"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Richard Hughes, Liverpool\u2019s director of football, was very much ahead of the curve when it comes to a now-\u00a365 million forward on the radar of the Premier League leaders.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The former Portsmouth midfielder secured himself one of the most high-profile behind-the-scenes roles in British football on the back of some exceptional business at AFC Bournemouth.<\/p>\n

During Hughes\u2019 time on the South Coast, Nathan Ake, Aaron Ramsdale, Ilya Zabarnyi, Milos Kerkez and Justin Kluivert all arrived.<\/p>\n

One suspects Hughes may also have helped lay the groundwork for Bournemouth to sign Dean Huijsen<\/a> \u2013 the former Juventus starlet is a summer target for Liverpool<\/a> \u2013 before heading to Anfield to link up with Arne Slot in a new-look Anfield power couple.<\/p>\n

Huijsen, by the way, is one of a number of Cherries stars on The Reds\u2019 radar.<\/p>\n

Milos Kerkez is an option to replace Andy Robertson<\/a> long-term. And while Bournemouth are reportedly demanding near \u00a370 million for Antoine Semenyo<\/a>, such an eye-watering price-tag does not appear to have had Liverpool running for the hills.<\/p>\n

\"PhotoPhoto by Lewis Storey\/Getty ImagesFormer Bristol City boss hails Antoine Semenyo as Liverpool eye Bournemouth star<\/p>\n

A relative late-bloomer, 25-year-old Semenyo, after loan spells lower down the EFL with Newport County and Sunderland, quietly emerged as one of the Championship\u2019s most exciting young attackers before Bournemouth took a punt on him back in 2023.<\/p>\n

What a decision that proved to be. <\/p>\n

Because Semenyo, a bargain at just \u00a310 million, now appears to have no real limits to how high he can fly. A tally of ten goals \u2013 eight of those coming in the Premier League \u2013 makes the 2024\/25 campaign the most prolific of his career.<\/p>\n

And given how Liverpool have excelled in the past<\/a> when turning very good attackers into great ones \u2013 see Mo Salah, Sadio Mane, Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino \u2013 Semenyo feels like a very typical sort of signing for the soon-to-be Premier League champions.<\/p>\n

It was Lee Johnson who handed Semenyo his debut at Bristol City back in 2018, meanwhile. <\/p>\n

Seven years on, the former Sunderland and Hibernian boss is understandably keen to take some credit for the London-born Ghana international\u2019s unexpected emergence as a Premier League force to be reckoned with.<\/p>\n

Having arrived in Bristol from South Gloucestershire and Stroud College \u2013 rather than from an established club academy \u2013 Johnson admits that Semenyo did not have the grounding most other young players benefit from at the same age.<\/p>\n

But, once Semenyo learned what was required to make it in the professional game, well, wind him up and watch him go.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t have the knowledge, did he?\u201d Johnson recalls, speaking to talkSPORT<\/a>. \u201cHe didn\u2019t have the pedigree, he hadn\u2019t really come through an academy. Like I say, he was playing at the college.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody at the club had to put a lot of effort in. But, at the end of the day, the player has still got to buy into that and implement those changes. He was a powerful player but he\u2019s also now a very good athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lee Johnson says Semenyo emergence has been \u2018great to see\u2019<\/p>\n

Manchester United, Newcastle and more have been linked with Semenyo ahead of the summer transfer window.<\/p>\n

And Johnson would relish the sight of one of his old charges leading the line for a giant of English football, whether that be Liverpool or another.<\/p>\n

Semenyo has already netted at Anfield, of course. He scored the opener inside just three minutes before Liverpool came roaring back to win 3-1 in August 2023.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to see,\u201d Johnson adds. \u201cWhen you see young players that you\u2019ve given debuts to go on and do really well, it\u2019s really rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, he\u2019s a really impactful player in the Premier League. It just goes to show that talent is everywhere and you can\u2019t be closed off to recognising that talent.<\/p>\n

\u201cGive them the right environment, develop them and you\u2019ve got a right chance.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Richard Hughes, Liverpool\u2019s director of football, was very much ahead of the curve when it comes to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[16239,748,393,4884,179,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-26702","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-antoine-semenyo","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-liverpool","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114351664293409939","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}