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According to reports from Teamtalk, Newcastle United are monitoring the progress of 21-year-old Robins forward Antoine Semenyo (Yes, we are officially preparing for life in the Championship). The Rumors also claims that Semenyo is a hot property in the market with the likes of Crystal Palace, Southampton, Brighton, and West Ham all keeping tabs on the 21-year-old.
He has had his brief development loan spells at Newport and Sunderland in League Two and One respectively before establishing him as a firm fan favorite at Bristol Rovers. He’s enjoying his breakthrough season in the Championship being a regular feature under both Nigel Pearson and Stuart Holden before him, having scored 5 goals and further laid 7 assists for his teammates in this current season. He’s also completing 1.2 dribbles pg and contributing 1.8 tackles and Interceptions pg which is a decent contribution as a forward and also being a good active presser on the front foot.
He’s one of those flair players having a silky first touch, an exciting player when he’s on the ball and can get some off their seats. He’s direct, pacy, and has a great deal of strength. He can use both feet and has a thunderous shot when he gets an opening. Semenyo is a center-forward by trade but has been used on the left-wing in his short career so far and he has managed to impress. The 21-year-old is blessed with electric pace, agility, and tricky feet, and is a difficult player to mark due to his clever movement off the ball.
His close control is really good, and if he has a chance to dribble at a defender he’ll take that chance. People compare him to former Crystal Palace player ‘Yannick Bolasie’ but I find him similar to Ivan Toney in terms of his agility and ability to hold the ball up quite well due to his good size and strength, certainly not as prolific as Toney But he has his set of skill-sets such as half and quick turns, finding spaces with little one-two’s a bit like Ebere Eze at Crystal Palace. He is also good in link-up play and uses his strength and body control to hold the ball up well. Semenyo is also aerially strong, which keeps the opposition defenders on their toes whenever he is in the box.
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The boy really has talent and it wouldn’t be long that he would start ripping up the championship and start attracting major suitors in Big Premier League Clubs. Chelsea had an initial offer of £1-million rebuffed by the Rovers in 2019 and are holding out for £2-million at that time but a Breakthrough season and 2 years left on the contract, would require anything in the region of £10-million to sway him away from the Rovers. Although his agent is working hard to move him out of the mid-table Championship club. That can be observed by an excessive number of Rumors surrounding the player.
Newcastle Verdict:
A relegation could massively Upheaval our plans, which will result in the mass exodus of star players in Miggy, ASM, Wilson, etc. Even if we don’t get relegated who would want to stay in an Unambitious and unprofessional club (Our Club is what it is only due to fans and no one else and not good management).
I think Newcastle should take a gamble on this one as a long-term replacement for ASM (Now people will rush at killing me for saying that ASM can ‘leave’) but the reality check is why would he stick out with the Club having Steve Bruce as a Manager. Semenyo would be a smart pick he’s agile, athletic, tricky, and skillful a bit similar to Allan Saint-Maximin.
Also, our squad is full of crap, the old players in Carroll, Gayle, Saivet, etc, and also With the outgoings of the duo Atsu and Saivet will leave us a bit short in numbers, So we can do with Semenyo in the squad it would do no harm in keeping a young player who could potentially become a Premier League forward.