Eagles look set to swoop for striker
Crystal Palace the latest Premiership club linked with bid to sign City star Semenyo
CRYSTAL Palace are considering joining Bournemouth in the race to sign Antoine Semenyo this month, according to reports.
The Eagles have a longstanding interest in the Bristol City striker, inset, which dates back to 2017 when they offered him an academy contract while he was at the SGS College but he instead opted for the Robins.
Sporting director Dougie Freedman has also monitored the Ghanaian’s progress for at least the last two years.
Our sister website Bristol Live understands they were preparing to make an offer in the summer but opted against it due to Semenyo’s shin injury. Bournemouth came forward with two bids last week with the second topping £10million which fell short of City’s valuation, believed to be in the ballpark of £15m. Championship leaders Burnley also had a proposal rejected earlier in the month.
According to The Telegraph’s John Percy, Patrick Vieira’s Palace are considering making an offer before Tuesday’s deadline. The Premier League side are short of out-and-out strikers following Christian Benteke’s departure to DC United in the summer.
Attacking midfielder Wilfried Zaha is the club’s top scorer with six goals, ahead of Odsonne Edouard. Only five sides in the top flight have scored fewer goals than Palace this season who have 18 in 20 matches.
Palace could be seen as a more attractive proposition for Semenyo who has not let the ongoing transfer speculation prove a distraction. Unlike Bournemouth, relegation remains highly unlikely with the club seven points adrift of the drop zone while the prospect of living in London would also be an appeal.
Semenyo has been in excellent form for the Robins in recent weeks with four goals in his last five matches. The 23-year-old, who missed the entirety of pre-season through injury, is performing at the levels he consistently showed throughout the second half of the last campaign with eight goals and 11 assists in 20 games.He has just under 18 months left on his contract after the club activated the year option in December. It effectively means they will need to sell Semenyo either this month or in the summer although his value is likely to diminish closer to the end of his deal.
Last week, Nigel Pearson remained resolute over the club’s position but admitted the speculation can be unsettling. He said: “We know we’ve got a talent in Antoine at the club but we need to protect our interests as a football club and if we get to a point where a deal is accepted that it’s done in the right way. Until that point, Antoine is our player.”