Andoni Iraola breaks silence on Antoine Semenyo transfer saga as Manchester City progress on deal | OneFootball

Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola has opened up on the situation surrounding his star forward Antoine Semenyo, with Manchester City leading the race for the forward.

Semenyo has chosen to move to the Etihad Stadium in the January transfer window following strong interest from Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham – all of whom made enquiries over the 25-year-old’s release clause at Bournemouth that gets activated next month.

The Ghana international is available for £65 million in January and reports in recent days have indicated that the release clause is only valid for the first 10 days of the month, which could speed up developments as Manchester City close a deal for the attacker.

Pep Guardiola has been keen to shore up his frontline as City compete for major trophies, with a worrying amount of goalscoring burden falling on Erling Haaland since the start of the season as goals have been scarce from out wide and midfield – after the Blues revamped their first-team squad in the summer.

Manchester United and Manchester City were the parties expressing the strongest interest in Semenyo, who is keen to make a step up to the biggest clubs in England and compete for silverware after establishing himself as one of the best forwards in the Premier League under Andoni Iraola.

City are right on the heels of Premier League leaders Arsenal ahead of Christmas and while the jury is out on whether Guardiola and co can sustain their recent purple patch as the season progresses, the Blues are close to plugging a major loopholes in their current squad.

Semenyo has given his go-ahead to join Manchester City in the next few weeks and executives at the Etihad Stadium – led by sporting director Hugo Viana – are now expected to progress direct talks with Bournemouth over the structure of a deal.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, as reports surrounding Semenyo began to intensify, Andoni Iraola said: “I understand that there is a lot of noise around Antoine. There are situations that we cannot control but right now, Antoine is our player and he’s going to continue playing for us.

“If you ask me, I don’t want to lose him (Semenyo), definitely don’t want to lose him. But like we always say, every time the market opens, you never know what’s going to happen.”

Bournemouth face a tricky test away at Brentford this weekend as it remains to be seen whether Semenyo is involved as usual against the Bees, with Iraola expected to be mindful of noise around the Ghanian’s future when selecting his travelling squad to west London.

Manchester City will travel to Nottingham Forest in search of their seventh successive win in all competitions, having seen off West Ham last time out in a 3-0 win courtesy of a first Etihad Stadium goal for summer signing Tijjani Reijnders and a customary brace for Haaland.

City are expected to seal an agreement with Bournemouth for Semenyo in the near future, with Viana making a huge statement of intent to Arsenal and the rest of the Premier League after winning the race for a home-grown talent who will improve most sides in Europe.