Antoine Semenyo

In his first half-season at Manchester City, Antoine Semenyo won the EFL Cup and then scored the only goal of the 2026 FA Cup final. City had paid Bournemouth a reported £64 million for him in January 2026; seven years earlier he had been playing on loan at Bath City in non-league football.

Rejected, then rescued

Antoine Serlom Semenyo was born in England on 7 January 2000. Trials at Arsenal, Tottenham and Millwall came to nothing, and Crystal Palace let him go at 15 after eight weeks. He nearly gave up before the coach Dave Hockaday brought him into his academy at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College, and Bristol City signed him in 2017.

Bristol City to Bournemouth

Loans at Bath City and Newport County, where he moved from striker to the wing and helped knock Leicester out of the FA Cup in January 2019, prepared him for the Championship, and he became a Bristol City regular from 2020. Bournemouth bought him for £10 million in January 2023, where he spent three years in the Premier League before his move to City.

Black Stars

He chose Ghana and made his debut in 2022, the year he went to the World Cup in Qatar. He also played at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations and was in Ghana's squad for the 2026 World Cup.