"Normally speaking, when an attacking player gets the ball 70 meters away from the opponent's goal, the defense is not too worried. But that's just because most teams don't have to face Bournemouth's Antoine Semenho every weekend."

When the "Guardian" chooses to use such Versailles words to describe a player, even if you may have never seen him play, you should have a general understanding that this guy named Semenho is no ordinary person.

This is indeed the case. In the first seven rounds of the Premier League this season, the Ghanaian winger has scored 6 goals and provided 3 assists. The number of goals he participated in accounted for 81.8% of the total goals scored by the Bournemouth team, ranking first in the entire Premier League.

As early as last season, Semenho, who contributed 13 goals and 7 assists in 42 games, has already made a mark in the Premier League. However, the path to football for this most dazzling attacker in the Premier League has not been smooth sailing.

01

Like Eze, who played for Arsenal, Semenho was rejected by many teams as a teenager, which forced him to give up football at the age of 15, which lasted for more than a year.

On January 7, 2000, in London, Larry Semenho, who had played in the Ghana Premier League, welcomed the arrival of his eldest son Antoine. Three years later, with the arrival of his youngest son, Jay Semenio (also a professional player, who previously played for Cardiff and England's fifth-division team Eastleigh, but is currently a free agent), football has unsurprisingly become the most important topic in the family.

As a player, Larry played alongside Leeds United legend Tony Yeboah in Ghana’s local league team Oko United. Although his achievements were far less than those of his teammates, his influence on his two sons’ football paths was obvious.

"My father once asked me to practice kicking anything with both feet, whether it was paper balls, cans or anything else." Semenho attributed the credit to his father for his almost indistinguishable ability with his left and right feet. "When I was six years old, I was able to skillfully kick the ball with both feet, and now it has become my unique skill."

However, despite starting football training under the leadership of his father very early, Semenho Neo's road to green has not been smooth. "I have been to many clubs for trial training, but all I got was the evaluation of 'not good enough'." Last year, in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, Semenio talked about the bitterness of the year, "For a boy, that kind of rejection is actually very cruel."

After being rejected by teams such as Arsenal, Tottenham and Millwall, Semenio could only participate in Sunday amateur leagues to continue his football career. Of all the teams unwilling to sign Semenho, Crystal Palace became the last straw for the then 15-year-old.

"Crystal Palace hit me the hardest because I stayed there for a full eight weeks. When the trial period was extended, I thought I was going to get a contract, but it turned out to be the opposite," Semenho recalled of the past. "I remember getting in the car and crying, and asking my father, 'Why is it like this every time?'. After that, it was a whole year For 20 years, I didn’t touch football and didn’t participate in any sports, which caused me to gain weight. I never thought that I would be here today. Maybe God is always working in a wonderful way.”

02

The so-called God and the so-called miracle actually come from Semenio’s heart that he has not given up football after all.

When coaches from many clubs' youth training camps were trying to kill his football dream, a man stood up like God and helped him open the door to his dream.

In an open trial, Semenio was persuaded by Dave Hockday, who briefly served as Leeds United manager, to join his football academy in Swindon. This meant that the then 16-year-old Semenio had to live alone away from home. But this was no problem for him, who had finally gained recognition. He took this step resolutely.

Under the careful guidance of Hawkday, Semenio ushered in a turning point in his life. "That summer we played against many youth training teams, and I remember scoring every game. Then a large number of teams came to offer their services, including Bristol, Birmingham... and even Crystal Palace showed their goodwill again."

In the end, after two weeks of trial training, Semenio was recognized by Bristol City. Subsequently, he was loaned to Bath City in the sixth tier of England for training.

Experiencing the adult team's league for the first time gave the young Semenho a lot. "When you play in the U23 game, you are all showing off your skills, but you are not allowed to do this in the adult team game. Not only is the quality of the turf worrying, but the opponents are also experienced players who just want to win." The guy you kicked over. I was very uncomfortable at first and got kicked a lot, but the experience in Bath City was precious."

After a loan spell of 6 goals in 16 games, Semenho returned to Bristol City and made his first team debut at the end of the 2017-18 season. But in the next two seasons, he started loan mode again, first to Newport in League Two, and then to Sunderland in League One. During his time at Newport, he was transformed into a winger. This positioning continues to this day. In addition to being a forward, Semenho can also switch freely on the left and right wings.

In the 2020-21 season, Semenho finally knocked on the door of Bristol City's first team. Under the leadership of then coach Nigel Pearson, the offensive winger was selected for the Ghana national team for the first time due to his outstanding performance and received a ticket to fly to the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

The time came to the winter window of 2023. After playing 125 games for Bristol City and scoring 21 goals, Semenho signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with Bournemouth worth 10 million pounds..

From the muddy low-level league in England to the glamorous stage of the Premier League like a red carpet, Semenho finally waited for the highlight of his life.

03

Under the guidance of another young coach from the Basque Country, Iraura, Bournemouth has become a force that cannot be ignored in the Premier League in the past two seasons. Even though the team sold many players this summer, especially when the defense was almost depleted, Bournemouth still grabbed 14 points from a possible 21 points after 7 rounds, ranking fourth, and its performance far exceeded expectations.

Of course, there is a reason why the club spent more than 100 million pounds to introduce new players. However, in the eyes of the English media and industry insiders, retaining Semenho is the most important move this summer for this club located on the south coast of England. After all, in the past two and a half seasons, he has already proven his strength. To paraphrase the praise of teammate Kluivert Jr., "Semenho is incredible. He proves that he is a world-class player in every game."

And Illaura's evaluation of his disciple is, "He is full of energy." A confident player, this belief has grown day by day throughout his journey from the lower leagues to the Premier League. He has improved every season, and now he is an indispensable core of the team."

For this reason, not only does the "Guardian" pursue Semenho infinitely, The Athletic also recently published an article titled "Is Antoine Semenho the best player in the Premier League now?" 》 article to illustrate how good this Ghana forward is.

In the 3-1 reversal of Fulham in the last round, his performance of two shots and one pass was the epitome of his wonderful performance in the past year, especially the goal that was close to a zero-degree angle after a one-stop breakthrough was even more breathtaking.

This made former England midfielder Redknapp Jr., who served as a commentator for Sky Sports, couldn't help but admire, "It was a difficult game night with strong wind and rain, but Semenho was not affected at all. He was gliding on the court like water, He is an incredible and unique talent, whether he is right-footed or left-footed, it makes no difference to him."

In fact, as long as you pay attention to Bournemouth's games for a long time, the most amazing thing about Semenho is not only his goals, but also his ability to create chances. In this league that has countless top defenders and advocates confrontation, he can always make the opponent's defense collapse in a casual stroll.

"My goal in the game is to make the defenders hate me." Semenho once revealed his attitude towards the game to Sky Sports. "Many people think I am a left-footed player, but my dominant foot is actually my right foot. If defenders think I am left-footed, then I will use my right foot, and vice versa, which will make them uncomfortable."

As he said, no defender today probably likes to compete one-on-one with him on the court. This season's stunning statistics speak for themselves: No. 1 in the Premier League in successful confrontations, No. 1 in regaining the ball in the frontcourt, No. 2 in sprints, and one of the top five in dribbling breakthroughs. Of course, there are also the eye-catching 6 goals and 3 assists.

But if we put aside those cold numbers, the most attractive thing about Semenho is that watching him play is an unparalleled enjoyment. Simply put, if you want a kid to love football, show him Semenho videos. Because as long as he touches the ball, no matter where he is on the court, the ball seems to be able to change with his feet and become infinitely charming. He perfectly interprets the image of an explosive attacker who is both elegant and sharp.

The Guardian once used a vivid metaphor to describe Semenho, "He is the giant shark among the small fish, the savior of the commentator's boring weekend, and the perfect fantasy of neutral fans."

However, for Bournemouth fans, the current mood is undoubtedly tangled. Although Semenho has brought them a top-notch visual feast, if this continues, it is obviously only a matter of time before he goes to play for a wealthy club.