Antoine Semenyo once walked away from football because he wanted to be a normal teenager.

At 15, after a final trial with Crystal Palace ended without a contract, the Ghana international decided he had had enough.

“I stopped playing football at 15 when Crystal Palace rejected me after my final trial there,” Semenyo told ItsAllOutfooty

“At that point, I told myself, ‘Now I just want to be normal.’”

It is a remarkable admission from a player who, little more than a decade later, is one of the most exciting attacking players at Manchester City.

On Sunday, Semenyo provided two assists in the space of two minutes as City recovered from a goal down to beat Atletico Madrid 3-1 in a pre-season friendly in Seoul.

The 26-year-old set up both of Omar Marmoush’s goals early in the second half, helping turn the match around before Rayan Ait-Nouri added a third late on. Semenyo finished City’s pre-season tour with four assists in three appearances.

It was another glimpse of why City paid more than £60m to sign him from Bournemouth in January.

But Semenyo’s journey to the Etihad has been anything but straightforward.

‘I couldn’t be normal’

As a youngster, Semenyo went through a succession of trials at some of England’s biggest clubs, including Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Millwall.

Crystal Palace was his final attempt.

The rejection hurt.

From the age of 11 to 14, Semenyo said, his life had revolved around football.

“Wake up, go to school, train, come home. That was my routine,” he recalled.

“I couldn’t go to parties, I couldn’t spend time with my friends… I missed all of that.”

So he stopped.

For a year, football was replaced by school, friends and the ordinary teenage experiences he had felt he was missing.

“I really appreciated that period of my life,” he said.

Looking back, Semenyo now sees that difficult moment differently.

“I’m really happy I stopped playing football at that time,” he said. “I had missed so many parties… At that time, I just felt ‘normal’. It was nice.”

The decision could easily have marked the end of his football story.

Instead, it became a strange turning point.

A second chance

After a year away from the game, Semenyo was persuaded to attend an open trial organised by former Leeds United coach Dave Hockaday, who was working at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College.

He impressed against professional academy sides and caught the attention of Bristol City.

In 2017, the Championship club gave the teenager another opportunity.

Semenyo’s early professional years were spent learning away from the spotlight.

He had loan spells with Bath City, Newport County and Sunderland, experiences that helped him develop physically and tactically.

At Newport, he began playing more regularly on the wing, rather than solely as a striker.

The breakthrough eventually came at Bristol City.

In the 2020-21 season, he played 50 matches and scored seven goals. The following campaign brought 20 goals and assists in 32 Championship appearances, signalling that the player who had once been rejected by academy after academy was beginning to fulfil his potential.

From Bristol to Bournemouth

Semenyo’s progress also brought international recognition.

Born in London to Ghanaian parents, he chose to represent Ghana and made his Black Stars debut in 2022.

He scored his first international goal against Switzerland in November that year, just days before Ghana’s World Cup campaign in Qatar. (Ghana Football Association)

By then, his club career was also moving quickly.

Bournemouth signed him from Bristol City in January 2023, taking a chance on a forward whose combination of strength, pace and direct running had become increasingly difficult to ignore.

At Bournemouth, Semenyo established himself as a Premier League player.

His performances helped the Cherries record their highest points total in the Premier League in the 2024-25 season, when they finished ninth with 56 points. (AFC Bournemouth)

By the time he left the club, Semenyo had made 110 appearances and scored 32 goals in all competitions.

His final Bournemouth appearance was particularly fitting.

On his 26th birthday, he scored a stoppage-time winner against Tottenham Hotspur in a 3-2 victory – his last appearance for the club before completing his move to Manchester City.

The move to Manchester City

Manchester City completed the signing in January 2026 after triggering a reported £65m release clause.

The move represented the latest and most dramatic stage of a rise that had taken Semenyo from academy rejection, to college football, to the lower leagues, the Championship, Bournemouth and eventually one of Europe’s biggest clubs.

City handed him a five-and-a-half-year contract, keeping him at the Etihad until 2031.

Now, under manager Enzo Maresca, Semenyo appears increasingly comfortable in City’s attacking system.

His performance against Atletico was perhaps the clearest indication yet.

City went into half-time 1-0 down after Jorge Dominguez gave Atletico the lead. But shortly after the restart, Semenyo supplied Marmoush twice in quick succession to put City ahead.

The Ghanaian’s pace and willingness to run at defenders gave City an attacking edge, while his ability to create chances showed another side to his game.

Maresca has already praised the developing understanding between Semenyo and Marmoush, with the pair emerging as an important attacking partnership during the pre-season tour.

For a player who once believed his football career was over at 15, it is quite a transformation.

From quitting to becoming a World Cup star

Semenyo’s story has also continued to grow on the international stage.

He was part of Ghana’s squad at the 2022 World Cup and has since become an increasingly important figure for the Black Stars.

At the 2026 World Cup, he started Ghana’s opening group match against Panama and was named player of the match after helping the Black Stars to a 1-0 victory. It is his second World Cup appearance.

The journey has left Semenyo with a perspective that perhaps only someone who once walked away from the game could have.

“I didn’t think I would ever make it this far,” he told FIFA.

“I thought just being a professional was enough, signing for Bristol City was enough for me.”

Now he is preparing for another season at Manchester City, surrounded by some of the biggest names in world football and competing at the highest level.

The teenager who wanted to be “normal” has become anything but.

And perhaps the most remarkable part of Semenyo’s story is that his career did not begin with an academy contract, a celebrated scouting report or a straight path to the Premier League.

It began again after rejection.

Sometimes, in football, the door that closes is not the end of the story.

It is simply the one that sends you looking for another way in.

Jamaldeen Wiayuka

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