Exit clause revealed
©IMAGO
The recent defeats at Aston Villa and Manchester City have made AFC Bournemouth’s fabulous start to the Premier League season fade a little. How well the Cherries performed in the first quarter of the season will be remembered again at the latest if the team from the English south coast loses their best man, Antoine Semenyo.
Such a scenario could happen quicker than Bournemouth would like. According to consistent media reports in England, the 25-year-old winger would be able to leave the club as early as next January using an exit clause. According to “BBC” and “The Athletic”, an interested club would have to pay the equivalent of a good 73 million euros for this. The contract option in the Ghana international’s working paper applies to all clubs, but only in the first two weeks of the winter transfer window, which starts at the beginning of January.
Last summer, larger clubs were also said to have been interested in Semenyo. Manchester United and Tottenham have been named as contenders in reports. The London-born attacker decided to stay with the Cherries two and a half years after his €10 million move from Bristol to Bournemouth and signed a new five-year contract until 2030. At that point, in July, Semenyo had already reached a market value of €40 million. After the strong start to the season, the valuation improved to 55 million euros and thus came significantly closer to the exit clause of 73 million euros agreed in the summer (Semenyo’s market value development in the overview). Given the level of spending in the English elite league, this is no longer an unlikely price for the shooting star. Premier League clubs have already paid more than 70 million euros for a player seven times this season alone.
This season, Semenyo has already scored nine goals in eleven championship games – six goals and three assists. This means that his yield will increase again compared to previous years. Last season (17 scorer points), 16 other players were ahead of him in terms of goal participation. A year earlier (11 points) there were 54. This season only Erling Haaland, who is performing outstandingly even for his level (14 goals, one assist), is ahead of him in the Premier League scorers list. Semenyo has been directly involved in more than half of all Bournemouth goals so far.