Ghana international Antoine Semenyo has explained why he joined Manchester City, saying a personal promise from former manager Pep Guardiola convinced him to make the move.
The 26-year-old completed a £65 million transfer from Bournemouth during the January transfer window after attracting interest from Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.
Speaking to the BBC, Semenyo said Manchester City first contacted him in December before he completed the move to the Etihad Stadium the following month.
The Black Stars forward also thanked Bournemouth for helping him develop into one of the Premier League’s top attackers.
“I owe them everything, to be honest,” Semenyo said. “They helped my Premier League career flourish and obviously the management, the staff behind the scenes, they were all amazing; they made everything so smooth.”
Semenyo enjoyed the best season of his career, scoring 21 goals for club and country. He also scored the winning goal in Manchester City’s FA Cup final victory over Chelsea and helped the club win the Carabao Cup.
Explaining his decision to join City, Semenyo said Guardiola’s plans for his development made the choice easy.
“I think for me, I just wanted the next step to be the big one and Manchester City was the option. Pep spoke to me beforehand, and he said, ‘look, when you come, I am going to make you a better player.’
“You want to get better, you want to improve every season, and he definitely helped me with that in the first five months, but obviously sad for him to leave,” he added.
Although Guardiola has since left Manchester City, Semenyo said the former manager played an important role in his development during their time together.
The Ghana forward has now begun life under new head coach Enzo Maresca and provided an assist in Manchester City’s pre-season defeat to Inter Milan as the club prepares for the new season.
