Fabrizio Romano rebuffs Liverpool hijack talk as Manchester City agree Antoine Semenyo personal terms | OneFootball

Liverpool retain an interest in Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo despite Manchester City being in pole position to sign the forward, as per a new report.

Semenyo has given his go-ahead to join forces with Pep Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium to fulfil his ambitions of winning major trophies – following strong interest from the biggest sides in the Premier League, including Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham.

The 25-year-old has raised his stock as one of England’s best home-grown stars in recent years at the Vitality Stadium, with Guardiola personally driving Manchester City’s interest in the Ghana international ahead of the January transfer window.

It has been widely reported in the last week that Manchester City have won the race to sign Semenyo from Bournemouth, with the winger having a £65 million release clause that can be activated between January 1-10.

Bournemouth are keen to keep hold of their star forward into the second half of January as they face off against Tottenham and Arsenal in the Premier League, though Semenyo is very keen to wrap up his Manchester City move at the earliest.

City maintained the pressure on Premier League leaders Arsenal at the weekend as Rayan Cherki’s 82nd minute strike helped the Blues claim a hard-fought three points over Nottingham Forest to extend their winning streak to eight games in all competitions.

Executives at the Etihad Stadium, led by director of football Hugo Viana, are expected to ramp up talks with Semenyo’s representatives ahead of New Year’s Day and submit a formal bid to Bournemouth for the want-away winger.

Fabrizio Romano has reported that Manchester City have an agreement over personal terms in place with Semenyo, who will shore up a Blues frontline that has lacked goal output from out wide and been overly reliant on Erling Haaland this season.

Speaking in a recent video posted on his YouTube channel, Romano provided a clarification on recent reports in England that have suggested that Bournemouth are expecting Liverpool to make a stronger pursuit for Semenyo in the near future.

“Liverpool have always been calling for Semenyo; they started calling in November, they continued calling before Christmas, and they kept on calling during the recent days to understand the situation,” Romano said.

“But I can guarantee to you that as of tonight, Sunday night – I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow because my job is not to predict the future but I have to tell you what’s happening today – Liverpool have never approached Bournemouth to start the conversation or to tell them, ‘Okay we’re going to pay the release clause’.

“And this didn’t happen because as of today, the player’s preference, already expressed a few days ago before Christmas Eve, is to go to Man City.

“Man City remain convinced that Antoine Semenyo wants to join them, Man City remain relaxed about the situation, and Man City will be in contact with Bournemouth – I told you – before the start of January to try to seal the deal for Semenyo as soon as possible.”

City are expected to close a deal for Semenyo this week following reports that the eight-time Premier League champions could offer an alternative payment structure to the widely reported £65 million release clause when they table negotiations with Bournemouth officials.