Antoine Semenyo joins Man City: Bournemouth forward signs in £64m transfer to take City spending over £425m in 12 months

Manchester City have signed Antoine Semenyo from Bournemouth in a £64m deal.

The forward joins Pep Guardiola’s side on a five-and-a-half-year contract, taking City’s transfer spend in the last 12 months to £425.9m on 14 players. An official announcement is expected on Friday.

City agreed a deal with Bournemouth outside of Semenyo’s £65m release clause at £62.5m, plus performance-related bonuses worth £1.5m and a 10 per cent sell-on clause.

City beat off competition from rivals Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham to sign the 26-year-old.

The guaranteed part of the release clause was £60m, but the fee Bournemouth will now receive is slightly more at £62.5m over 24-month instalments.

The release clause has meant Bournemouth kept Semenyo for an extra six months after interest in the summer, with the sale higher than any of the offers they received at that time.

Semenyo scored a dramatic stoppage-time winner in his final Bournemouth game to clinch a 3-2 home victory over Spurs on Wednesday before having his Manchester City medical on Thursday.

Championship club Bristol City are due 20 per cent of any profit made on Semenyo, having left to join Bournemouth in January 2023 for around £10m.

Semenyo’s departure means Bournemouth have earned £266.5m in player sales in the last six months following the significant departures of Dean Huijsen to Real Madrid (£50m), Milos Kerkez to Liverpool (£40m), Illia Zabarnyi to Paris Saint-Germain (£57m) and Dango Ouattara to Brentford (£42m).