Where to start when the past year or so has been as memorable as it has for Antoine Semenyo? From becoming a Premier League player a month after pulling on a Ghana shirt at the World Cup to scoring at Anfield – he celebrated by doing a backflip in front of the Kop – and establishing himself as a key cog in a revitalised Bournemouth side, the past 13 months have been quite the ride.
“One word is surreal,” he says, smiling. “Everything has happened so quickly, from being at Bristol City, getting called up for the World Cup, the transition of moving to the Premier League … the feeling is just crazy.”
Now there is the small matter of his first Africa Cup of Nations, with Ghana, four-time winners, up against Cape Verde on Sunday before playing Egypt and Mozambique in Group B. Growing up in London, Semenyo watched on TV as his idols – Didier Drogba, Asamoah Gyan and the Ayew brothers, André and Jordan – played in the competition.
“When I first got called up I was almost starstruck but I had to keep composed. I didn’t think I’d be playing with them [the Ayews], but here I am … I have watched Afcon all of my life, from a kid with my parents, so to be involved is an honour.
“It is going to be tough but I’m ready to embrace the challenge and hopefully we can go all the way and win. It is a massive deal in Africa – it is like bragging rights … I can’t wait.”
His father, Larry, grew up in Accra, Ghana’s capital, and played alongside the former Leeds favourite Tony Yeboah at Okwawu United. The pair left for Germany at the same time but after trials at clubs including St Pauli a professional career did not materialise for Semenyo Sr.
“It comes out every so often,” Semenyo says, asked how many times he has heard the story. “I did go to a lot of his games when I was a kid. He played in England a little bit – but not at a professional level. Every now and then he’ll say: ‘Yeah, I could do that.’ Healthy competition …”
Drogba, who played for Ivory Coast, this year’s hosts of the biennial tournament, has proved an inspiration. When Semenyo was sidelined for four months at Bristol City after surgery on a torn meniscus he analysed his own clips on the digital coaching platform Hudl and scoured YouTube footage of Drogba, Thierry Henry and Michail Antonio to refine his game. He turned a similar negative into a positive when a shin injury hampered his progress at Bournemouth.
“There were a lot of scenarios where defenders made a mistake or the ball dropped in the box, and I was nowhere to be seen,” he says. “There were so many times last season where I found myself not getting into the box enough, not being eager. I wanted to tweak those things to make sure I’m putting myself in the best position to score or contribute for the team. Now I’m always trying to gamble to get on to the ball.”
It is six years this month since he signed his first professional contract, at Bristol City, and was immediately loaned to sixth-tier Bath City for his first taste of senior football. Semenyo has gone from being riled by non-league opponents to humiliating Champions League defenders. “When I was playing Wealdstone, one of their defenders was really strong and I was getting pushed over and I let my frustration get to me and I got sent off. If I had the IQ and the experience I have now, I wouldn’t have fought that battle. At that time I wanted to show my presence. I look back at that moment and think: ‘Times have changed.’”
His faith has been central to him along a journey that has been anything but straightforward. He does Bible study every other day, joining friends on FaceTime, including his younger brother, Jai, who is on the books of Cardiff, to pray together and read and discuss verses.
“In my free time that is the first thing I will turn to,” he says. “God has given me the ability that I have today and I thank him for that. My way of communicating with him is reading the Bible every day, praying, talking to him through my good and bad days. I get a Bible, find a topic, read about it and write about how I interpret it. It keeps me content.”
Is there a verse that carries particular significance? “Philippians, four, verse 13: “‘The Lord will always strengthen me.’ That is a big one for me,” he says.
Semenyo has his fair share of rejection stories. Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Millwall, Reading and Tottenham, Bournemouth’s last opponents before Semenyo joined up with Ghana, turned him down. Palace let him go at 15. “I have never been so upset in my life about football. I was crying to my dad. When I got released it really hit me. ‘I am struggling, I can’t get signed anywhere.’ I stopped playing for a year, just focused on school, and then a family member said there were open trials that I should attend and see where I am at ability-wise. That is where David Hockaday comes into it.”
Hockaday, the former Leeds manager, hosted a trials day at Bisham Abbey and it proved a defining moment. Semenyo – at the time, he says, a chubby midfielder – joined Hockaday’s programme in Swindon, where he went to college and got a BTec in sports science, and then followed Hockaday to South Gloucestershire and Stroud College.
He earned a trial at Bristol City and the aggression at the forefront of his game as a youngster was back. Little more than a year later he was the subject of a £2m bid from Chelsea. Bristol City – where he played with Jojo Wollacott, who is also in the Ghana squad – held firm but could not resist a £10.5m bid from Bournemouth last year. Now Semenyo is thriving under Andoni Iraola.
“He wants us to press no matter who we are playing against,” Semenyo says. “I admire his bravery. He doesn’t change anything in terms of his approach for any team. Whenever we start a game, he is like: ‘Look, if you can only survive 45 minutes, give your all for 45 minutes.’ It is tough playing under him but you reap the benefits. There can come a time in the game where you blow up but as long as you give everything for 45, 60, 70 minutes – whatever it is – at least you know you’ve tried your best and someone is coming on who is equally as good as you.”
Gone are the days of playing for his local Sunday League side, Kingfisher, when he “would kick the ball over the top, run, push people out of the way and shoot” but Semenyo does not think he has cracked it. “A lot of people get comfortable,” he says. “They get in a position like mine and they get very comfortable. I don’t want to be comfortable. I want to be on my toes every day and doing stuff that is uncomfortable and working on my game constantly. I want to improve every day.”
It is easy to warm to Semenyo, a polite and unassuming character. His rise should inspire some of the 33 million Ghanaians he is about to represent. “Sometimes I get memories flash up on my phone from when I was on loan at Bath, Newport and Sunderland, and I compare them with now,” he says. “You go on a trip down memory lane and it is like: ‘Wow, you’ve come a long way.’ It has been a long, old journey.”
No one can argue he does not deserve the rewards.
