Supporters of any non-Big Six side know the feeling all too well, where “Oh wow, he’s amazing” quickly becomes “Ah balls, he’s amazing.”
Once a player has strayed from doing well to doing too well, the vultures start circling, and one of football’s most depressing equation comes into effect: “Phwoar, X would be great for Y.”
Give or take the phwoar we are all guilty of it while watching the Premier League, and for two reasons X currently equals Antoine Semenyo.
Firstly, because the Bournemouth forward is in red-hot form, trailing only Erling Haaland (nine) in the Premier League for goals (six) and both Jack Grealish and Mohammed Kudus (four) for assists (three).
No player has been directly involved in more league goals since the start of May, with Semenyo topping up to 12 after two goals and an assist in Friday’s 3-1 win over Fulham.
Antoine Semenyo. pic.twitter.com/VaRtJO8ocP
— AFC Bournemouth(@afcbournemouth) October 4, 2025
The second reason is because Semenyo has – by proxy of impressing but not moving in the summer – emerged as the next in line to be linked with club Y, which seemingly equals a Big Six side.
This summer saw Eberechi Eze leave Crystal Palace for Arsenal, Joao Pedro join Chelsea from Brighton, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha move to Manchester United from Brentford and Wolverhampton Wanderers respectively, and Alexander Isak eventually sign for Liverpool from Newcastle United.
These five players accounted for half of the league’s 10 most expensive transfers in the summer window, and all involved a Big Six club swooping in for a standout player from a non-Big Six club.
This is football’s food chain in action, a trend that is hardly new but is increasingly commanding greater fees, with the majority of the league’s £100m-plus transfers following this pattern.
Premier League’s £100m-plus transfers
- 1. Alexander Isak – Liverpool from Newcastle (£125m)
- 2. Florian Wirtz – Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen (£116.5m)
- 3. Moises Caicedo – Chelsea from Brighton (£115m)
- 4. Enzo Fernandez – Chelsea from Benfica (£106.8m)
- 5. Declan Rice – Arsenal from West Ham (£105m)
- 6. Jack Grealish – Man City from Aston Villa (£100m)
The regularity of witnessing this food chain has made us complicit, and the follow-on from watching Semenyo flourish is wondering how much he could go for and which bigger club needs him the most.
Google any Big Six side and Semenyo has been linked, so too Newcastle United and Aston Villa.
In the summer, The i Paper reported Manchester United, Newcastle and Tottenham Hotspurs’ interest, while in the mere days since his star turn against Fulham, Chelsea supposedly need yet another winger and will pay Bournemouth £78m for the privilege.
Semenyo also rightly featured in Troy Deeney’s team of the week, the BBC pundit concluding: “I can see the likes of Tottenham and Chelsea being interested.”
Even a contract signed on 1 July – a five-year extension – has done little to put out the flames, but if anything it fuels them. Grealish signed a new deal at Aston Villa before leaving the following summer, while the ink had barely dried on Caicedo’s Brighton contract in March 2023 by the time he joined Chelsea that summer.
Such extensions have become part and parcel of this chain, a form of protection that allows clubs to command large fees and gives the player a bigger salary by way of a thank you – but its frequency is no less disheartening.
And while fans of non-Big Six clubs may wish for an invisible line where stars shine but not enough to alert the bigger clubs, by the time a teammate is waxing lyrical – a la Justin Kluivert calling Semenyo “incredible… just world class” – then you know the secret has long been out, and that your fanbase’s collective “yes, yes, we know, but shush” is no longer possible.
But really though here is no going under the radar in the modern game anymore, for stats abound.
Years ago, no-one would have known Semenyo was in the top 10 percentile for goals, shots on target, tackles in the defensive third, blocks, ball recoveries and aerials won compared to other Premier League forwards – but we know that now.
And in any case, despite drowning in information, no stats are needed to see Semenyo is one of the best ball-carriers with an actual end product. And if we know that, then undoubtedly every Big Six scouting report is saying the same.
Such inevitability then begs the question of what gift Semenyo can leave for Bournemouth before he moves on.
Eze steered Palace to FA Cup glory. Rice led West Ham to the Conference League. Should Semenyo – who is an Arsenal fan, like Eze – secure Bournemouth their first season of European football, then that would surely suffice.
But it is just a shame – in particular for a club who lost £200m worth of talent in the summer only to come back stronger – that the knock-on of watching a team punch above their weight is singling out the personnel that have propelled them there.
And the sad reality is that Semenyo is not alone. Andoni Iraola’s stock rises by the week, meaning “X would be great for Y” applies to the Bournemouth head coach as well.
The football wheel keeps turning, and while we all indulge in it, the vast majority of us are powerless to stop it.
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