Chelsea are reported to have made the first steps towards signing Bournemouth winger Antoine Semenyo, potentially stealing a march on rivals suitors Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City.
In a breakout season, Semenyo has emerged as the must-have winter signing as the January transfer window approaches, largely fuelled by a tempting £65 million ($87.7 million) release clause.
The Ghana international, who isn’t tied up by the Africa Cup of Nation because his country surprisingly failed to qualify, scored his eighth Premier League goal of 2025–26 this past weekend. Overall, it’s 11 direct goal involvements in 16 league appearances.
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But while others have been considering their options and firming up interest, Chelsea have been reported by multiple reputable sources to have gone a step further by actually reaching out with an enquiry about having Semenyo move to Stamford Bridge.
The Athletic specifically calls it an “initial enquiry,” suggesting any potential deal is still in its earliest stages. But the Blues had wanted to target an attacker before next season anyway, and have brought things forward from the summer given the capped transfer fee opportunity that exists now.
The enquiry has gone to Semenyo’s representatives, seemingly to gauge things like salary expectations, with no need to negotiate with Bournemouth due to the release clause.
The 25-year-old has scored his goals from either flank this season and Chelsea are lacking firepower to challenge at the very top of the table, despite having a similar defensive record to second place Manchester City—Pep Guardiola’s side have conceded only one goal fewer but have scored 12 goals more and are eight points better off as a result. Compared to Semenyo’s eight Premier League goals in the first half of the season, no Chelsea player has more than five (Pedro Neto, João Pedro).
This is not even Chelsea’s first time trying to sign Semenyo, but the previous effort came nearly seven years ago when they could have had him for just £2 million.
The west London-born player was an unknown teenage prospect with barely any professional experience at the time, having made his way through the ranks at Bristol City after being rejected by Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace.
Semenyo was midway through a loan spell at Newport County in League Two, but Chelsea saw enough in the 19-year-old to offer £1 million, according to the Daily Mail in January 2019. But things went no further because Bristol City wanted a fee “closer to £2 million” instead.
Now, clubs are queuing up to pay more than 30 times that nominal figure.
Chelsea aside, there is no shortage of interest in Semenyo because of his impact for Bournemouth through the first half of the season. Manchester United and Liverpool have each been on the receiving end of his goals in recent months, and both are now tracking him in the hope of potentially boosting their output from wide areas.
When it comes to United, the Red Devils weren’t necessarily planning to pursue another forward after spending more than £200 million combined on Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Šeško during the summer. But interest in Semenyo is sparked by opportunity because of the release clause.
Manchester City have also been reported to be keeping tabs on Semenyo, and Tottenham Hotspur were linked but are thought to have already been knocked back by the player. With suitors only required to negotiate with the Semenyo and his camp if they are prepared to trigger his release clause, it feels, one way or another, he won’t still be a Bournemouth player come February.
