To Semenyo, or not to Semenyo....?

 

I've been having a bit of a schizophrenic experience with Antoine Semenyo this year. Although I've been a huge fan of his ability for a long time, and have been impressed by the strides he'd made over the past couple of years at Bournemouth, I still had reservations about him as an FPL asset (principally that he was so streaky: scoring heavily in short spells, but then having long dry runs - and seeming to be too easily eclipsed by other in-form players at the club: there were periods last season when he took a backseat not just to Kluivert and Tavernier, but even to Ouattara, Evanilson, and Brooks...). Those reservations, allied with misgivings about how well Bournemouth's form could hold up in the wake of having lost most of last year's stellar defence, deterred me from picking him in my initial squad. His very hot start to the season would soon compel a change of heart. But then, round about GW8 or 9, I grew disillusioned, suspecting that his early hot streak had run its course (one of the few 'prescient' calls I've correctly made this season!), and offloaded him again earlier than most. Ah, and then..... I was impressed that he was still playing very well, and regularly threatening goals, even during the long drought that followed the opening seven games, and took a chance on bringing him back again, just a little before he started finding the net once more.

And then... I prepared to offload him again as soon as his threatened transfer away from Bournemouth materialised. There seemed to be a chance that he might transfer out of the League altogether. And if he stayed in England, he'd surely only go to one of the top few clubs - where he couldn't be expected to enjoy a regular start.

I felt particular trepidation when City suddenly emerged as the favourites to land him (Liverpool and Arsenal seemed to have been the likelier destinations in earlier speculations; and Chelsea would have been my dream move for him - both for what he might have done to improve the team, and for himself having reasonable prospects of finding an immediate and regular start): Pep often takes weeks to train a player up in 'his' way of playing before he'll give him a regular start in the team. Even worse, he regularly blows hot and cold on whether he even likes wide attackers: neither Savinho nor Bobb, nor even Doku - who's been superb when he has played - has enjoyed regular starts this year. I was indeed a little afraid that Semenyo's pace and strength and finishing ability might pigeonhole him in Pep's mind more as a central striker option - and hence a rarely used understudy to Haaland.

But, lordy, lordy, he was thrown straight into the fray as a starter, without having to endure a month-long tactical indoctrination. Indeed, he started two games in succession, and provided attacking contributions in both! FPL managers who'd held on to him over the brief transfer saga this month are starting to feel pretty smug; and around 185,000 new owners have already come in for him over the past week-and-a-bit.

However, I would still sound a note of caution on his City prospects. These two games he just played were Cup ties - and they really don't have much bearing these days on how a club will approach its League fixtures. I think every single Premier League club - even those drawn against top-tier opponents - fielded their back-up keeper and at least 3 or 4 outfield rotations from their usual 'first-choice' line-up for the FA Cup 3rd Round. The mere fact that Semenyo started in both of these games really means little or nothing in terms of his likely status in Pep's pecking-order.

Moreover, Marmoush and Ait-Nouri (who's probably now more likely to be considered for a role as a winger, if he gets a look-in at all) have been away at AFCON, Bobb and Savinho are injured, and Doku's just back from an injury and perhaps still getting 'managed minutes' for medical reasons. So, Semenyo probably got this quick start more because of a lack of competition for the place than because he's immediately become Pep's new favourite.

If he starts regularly, and if he plays as well as he just did in these two Cup games, and if he forges a productive rapport with the great Haaland - then, yes, Antoine Semenyo could be one of the top-performing FPL 'midfielders' for the second half of the season.

But that's quite a lot of 'ifs'. Just about no-one at City (well, Donnarumma and most of the defence when they're all fit, Rodri if he's fully fit again, and of course Haaland - but no-one else) can be expected to enjoy an invariable start. And even very occasional benchings can be extremely disruptive to the form and confidence of a player who's become used to being an ever-present.

For me, Semenyo is a wait-and-see. If you have him already, obviously you'll hang on to him for a few more gameweeks. But if you don't, there are probably more important transfers to be considering for the next week or two. My feeling is that it's currently a bit of a 50/50 as to whether he'll turn out to be the star of the season or the flop of the season from here on. I very much hope it's going to be the former; but I wouldn't put any money on that just yet.