Tottenham target Antoine Semenyo's two-footedness strikes fear into opponents

New York Times

3 hours ago

A version of this article was originally published in April 2025
Antoine Semenyo is one of the Premier League's most balanced players.
He is capable of dribbling, passing and shooting with either foot, thanks to his parents, as he revealed in an interview with The Athletic in October last year.
It helps to explain why the 25-year-old Bournemouth forward is so admired by other clubs, including Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. The sticking point for any suitor is that Semenyo signed a new contract last July and Bournemouth are thought to value him at £70million ($94m), as reported by The Athletic on Friday.
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His 16 Premier League goal involvements last season (scoring 11, with five assists) put him level with Bukayo Saka of Arsenal and Crystal Palace's Eberechi Eze, two full England internationals.
But few can rival Semenyo's ability with either foot: 46 per cent of his shots came with his right foot (with which he got six of those 11 goals) and 54 per cent with his left (the other five).
The only player who got closer to a 50-50 split in 2024-25 was Bournemouth team-mate Dango Ouattara (51 per cent left, 49 per cent right).
Semenyo took 125 shots in the 2024-25 Premier League, and only Chelsea's Cole Palmer (126) and Mohamed Salah of Liverpool (130) had more. The London-born Ghana international averaged 3.5 of them per 90 minutes, and mixed things up in terms of which foot he used. His ability with both left and right is invaluable in other ways, too, which explains the transfer interest he has received.
We took a look at what makes Semenyo such an accomplished Premier League player.
Bournemouth's system under head coach Andoni Iraola is defined by off-the-ball pressure and directness in possession.
Striker Dominic Solanke contributed to and benefited from both before he moved to Tottenham Hotspur last August, for a club record fee of £65million.
Evanilson, Enes Unal and Ouattara have nominally replaced Solanke at centre-forward but Semenyo has proven to be his successor when Bournemouth are out of possession.
Signed from Bristol City of the Championship for an initial £9million in January 2023, when Gary O'Neil was head coach, Semenyo is excellent at anticipating the direction of passes, which enables him to intercept in key areas. A fine example came in the 3-1 win against neighbours Southampton last September, shown below.
Southampton centre-back Jan Bednarek wins a throw-in in their defensive third, which is tossed back to him. As Bednarek prepares to pass forward, Semenyo races in towards the ball, away from his line of vision.
By the time Bednarek plays the pass, Semenyo has stretched his left foot out to intercept.
The ball ricocheted off his boot and looped over Bednarek, who was forced back, with Evanilson in close vicinity. Bednarek got there first and managed to hook the ball out for a Bournemouth throw by the corner flag — just the kind of high turnover Iraola wants from his team.
Semenyo's anticipation has served him well on the other end of the pitch, too.
In this example, from the 4-1 away win against Newcastle United in January, he initially does not press Anthony Gordon — the recipient of Bruno Guimaraes' pass — blocking the path for a ball inside to Tino Livramento instead.
But when he notices Gordon is receiving on his weaker left foot, Semenyo sprints towards him, knowing the England forward will require an extra second to switch the ball to his right foot before passing infield to Sandro Tonali.
This allows him to make a block, deflecting the pass intended for Tonali towards Ouattara (not in frame) to kickstart a counter-attack.
No Premier League forward averaged more blocked passes per 90 last season than Semenyo's 1.6, and he ranked sixth in the division for possessions won in the attacking third at 1.0 per 90.
As this graph below shows, his ability to read the play has allowed Semenyo, who has played in the top four divisions of the English game and in non-League, to win the ball in different areas and create openings against unsettled defences.
The high regain that ended in a goal (the green dot in the graphic above) came in a 1-1 home draw with Newcastle last August.
Semenyo runs in from the blindside to pressure Joelinton — one of the most physical players in the Premier League — and shrugs him off the ball.
Having won possession, Semenyo accelerates past Dan Burn and Lloyd Kelly (with help from Evanilson's movement) and gets to the byline.
He crosses for Marcus Tavernier, who scores the game's opening goal.
In possession, Semenyo constantly looks to drive forward, and his two-footedness causes indecision in defenders' minds, contributing to a 51 per cent take-on success rate.
His runs are rarely without purpose, with his six total key passes following a take-on in the 2024-25 Premier League only bettered by Tottenham's Dejan Kulusevski's seven. Iraola has primarily used him on the left flank, but he has played on the right too — as seen in the example above — and his ability to weave a path both on the inside and outside allows him to thrive.
In the reverse fixture against Southampton in February, another 3-1 Bournemouth win, Semenyo receives the ball from Milos Kerkez under pressure.
He turns away from James Bree and drives infield.
Getting to the edge of the area, he chops the ball from his right onto his left, giving Ouattara time to get himself back onside.
The chop leaves Southampton's Will Smallbone in a heap on the turf and Semenyo then passes to Ouattara, who sees his shot saved by Aaron Ramsdale.
Semenyo has benefited from the continuous off-the-ball movements in Iraola's system. Like Solanke in 2023-24, he is an active contributor to Bournemouth's style beyond his returns in the final third.
Their direct approach involves using long passes from back to front, and Semenyo's hold-up play has proved crucial.
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Goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga played 44 passes to Semenyo in the league last season, and 17 of those (39 per cent) came in matches against Brighton & Hove Albion, Brentford, Liverpool and Tottenham — four of the league's five best pressing teams. Iraola's centre-backs have done the same, too.
David Brooks' 77th-minute goal in the 1-0 win against Everton in January is a good example.
Centre-back Dean Huijsen lofts a pass forward towards Semenyo…
…who is initially ahead of James Tarkowski but changes direction to win the first header.
With Everton's defence dragged to the left, Brooks has space to run to the far post. Semenyo wins that header, flicking the ball on to Kerkez, who crosses for the Welshman to score.
Another example, from December's 1-1 draw with West Ham United, encapsulates Bournemouth's blueprint.
Arrizabalaga goes long towards the right, where Semenyo leaps to win the first header, guiding it to Evanilson, who then flicks it on to Justin Kluivert.
Kluivert heads it forward for Semenyo, who has now escaped his marker.
He races through, but drags the shot wide.
Which brings us neatly on to the matter of Semenyo's end product.
Bournemouth have encouraged Semenyo to shoot more, and he has obliged. But he can be wasteful, and has scored just five of his 17 Opta-defined 'big chances' in the league. He has hit the post twice and forced saves, but missed presentable opportunities.
Perhaps the most glaring of those misses came in the 2-0 defeat of Arsenal in October, when Bournemouth were trying to break down a stubborn defence following William Saliba's first-half red card.
A backheel from Kerkez allows Ouattara to dribble to the byline on the left. As Arsenal scramble to protect their box, Semenyo drifts to the far post, behind Riccardo Calafiori, to meet Ouattara's cross.
He lets the ball run across him, before sending a shot over the crossbar.
His decision-making has left team-mates frustrated on occasion, too.
Again, Semenyo has been urged to go for goal more often, because he can finish with either foot, like this January strike in the 2-2 draw at Chelsea…
… or this precise finish in the 5-0 stroll past Nottingham Forest later that same month.
Though he turned 25 in January, 2024-25 was only Semenyo's second full season of top-flight football. Having fallen through the academy net, he was attending college before joining Bristol City, who loaned him out to non-League (Bath City), League Two (Newport County) and League One (Sunderland) sides to gain experience.
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Few wide players in the Premier League have his repertoire of qualities with and without the ball, and his two-footedness allows him to play as an inside-forward, an out-and-out winger or even an attacking wing-back.
Semenyo has said he wants to play for a team competing in the Champions League or Europa League — his recent performances suggest he has the quality to operate at those levels.