Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano insists that Bournemouth winger Antoine Semenyo is still likely to sign for Man City over Liverpool in January.

Semenyo took his goal tally to nine in 17 Premier League matches this term on Saturday when he scored Bournemouth’s only goal in a 4-1 defeat to Brentford, while he also has three assists this season.

There have been rumours for months about who he could join with Man City, Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester United among the clubs linked with the Ghana international.

There were rumours on Sunday that ‘interest is still alive’ from Liverpool as they look to do a deal for Semenyo ahead of the January transfer window.

But Romano insists that Man City “remain convinced that Semenyo wants to join them” with Liverpool currently only calling to “understand the situation”.

Romano said on his YouTube channel: “On this Sunday we had stories coming from England about Liverpool trying to hijack the deal for Antoine Semenyo. What’s the situation now? Let me explain this story for you.

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“Liverpool have always been calling for Semenyo, they started calling in November, they continued calling before Christmas and they kept on calling during the recent days to understand the situation. But I can guarantee to you that as of Sunday night – I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow – so far Liverpool have never approached Bournemouth to start the conversation. This didn’t happen because as of today the player’s preference is to go to Manchester City.

“City remain convinced that Semenyo wants to join them, they remain relaxed about the situation. Liverpool are calling on the player’s side, agents, to understand the situation but at the moment it’s just about calls. Man City have an agreement with Semenyo and they are talking with Bournemouth.”

Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola wants to keep Semenyo for as long as possible after he scored his third goal in three games over the weekend.

When asked about Semenyo after the game, Iraola said: “Antoine, my situation is quite clear.

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“Antoine is a massive player for us. Even in games like today where probably hasn’t played well, he’s always a threat to score, to assist.

“He creates great goal scoring opportunities and also he adds a lot of physicality to our game and obviously I don’t want to lose him. This is quite clear.

“But there are some situations that are not under my control and he will be ready to play against [Chelsea] in three days and in the next one. And I hope he plays a lot more with us.”

When asked if he would prefer to get the money for Semenyo as early as possible in the transfer window, Iraola added: “No, the more games Antoine can play for us, if he can play years with us, much better!

“If he cannot be years, months, if he can play more weeks, weeks. The more time he plays with us, the better for us.”

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