Sam McGuire: "Antoine Semenyo is the perfect Liverpool forward" | OneFootball

Let’s talk about Antoine Semenyo then.

He’s a popular player right now within the Liverpool sphere. Sam Dean of the Daily Telegraph published a piece earlier in the week claiming “important figures” at Anfield wanted the versatile forward last summer. He went on to add that the 25-year-old was viewed as a “perfect signing” by certain people on Merseyside.

Alex Crook of Talksport then revealed the new, improved five-year contract signed by the former Bristol City man in the summer includes a release clause. Indy then claimed the clause is £100million in January and £70million next summer.

The secret clause isn't known but we now have Mark Douglas of the iPaper claiming the Reds are considering a January move for the Ghana international.

Liverpool’s decision to not bring in another winger this summer is now looking a little naive. Following the departure of Luis Diaz to Bayern Munich, the Reds were linked with a host of wingers but the club dismissed these ideas. The message was that the club had depth in attack, with Hugo Ekitike able to play out wide if needed, and that there was faith that Rio Ngumoha would be an able understudy to Cody Gakpo.

Yet here we are in mid-October. Ngumoha had been given five minutes here and there but there’s a real reluctance from Arne Slot to use him earlier in games, even if something needs changing. The same goes for Fede Chiesa. He’s been getting 10-15 minutes in games. Reading between the lines here, Slot is only giving these two minutes when he really has to. I don’t, for a second, believe he trusts either of them. Last season, Slot would change up the forward line around the hour mark at times. But last season, the Dutchman had options on the bench with two from Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo, Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez usually missing from the starting XI at any given time.

I’m just looking at Cody Gakpo’s page on Transfermarkt now. Initially, he was getting 25-30 minutes off the bench. Then, once he was a starter, he was often getting 65-70 minutes. I guess the point I’m trying to make here is that while the club, and the journos with ties to the club, tried to downplay the need for another attacker this summer, it was pretty clear we needed one.

All summer I said a left-winger was on my list. The club, however, clearly felt they had enough to manage the situation. And, you know what, they probably do if there’s a perfect storm. But with injuries, players being out of form and Slot simply not trusting members of the squad, the need is now apparent for all to see.

So, this brings us to Semenyo.

Now, I like him.

I believe he’s the long-awaited Sadio Mane replacement. He is primed to explode in the right environment. I’m not just jumping on the bandwagon now that he’s scored six goals and assisted on three occasions in his eight outings this season.

I’ve liked his profile for a while. He’s a volume monster (three shots per 90) and he’s two-footed. You know I love a two-footed attacker and of his 17 shots this term, eight have been right and eight have been left.

You can see the shot spread in the Gradient graphic above. It just makes them so much more unpredictable and adds an extra layer of threat. His shot map is lovely, too.

© FotMob

I said it the other day on Twitter. He profiles like a peak era Michael Edwards attacker with the ability to scale his output in a better team. He's perfect for the Reds.

Semenyo should be on Liverpool’s list right now.

But I do have reservations about the figures being mentioned. You can’t be spending close to £70million on someone with a Non-Penalty Expected Goals average of of 0.37. I keep seeing people justify the rumoured fee by saying ‘well, Bryan Mbeumo cost £65million’. He did, yeah. But just because Manchester United overpaid for him doesn’t mean Liverpool should overpay for Semenyo.

I realise money doesn’t matter. I realise it’s all imaginary right now and if you can afford it, and you want the player, you just pay it.

But you still want value for money. You still want to be able to justify the cost of a player. The more they cost, the more difficult it is for them to live up to the hype. Personally, I think £70million would be an overpayment for Semenyo. But he’s going to have a huge price tag right now because he’s in form and he’s the flavour of the month. It’s a bad time to be buying him. But we’re making a bit of a habit out of this though these days aren’t we? We’re buying when their stock is high and having to overpay.

If that's now the model, sure, sign Semenyo. But at least have a plan on how to use him.