Manchester United have emerged as reported \u201cserious rivals\u201d to Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur in the race for Bournemouth winger Antoine Semenyo as his \u00a365 million release clause nears activation next month.<\/p>\n
After 16 league rounds Ruben Amorim\u2019s side have scored 30 goals, level with leaders Arsenal and behind only Manchester City, who have 38. That offensive output has reduced the urgency to add attacking firepower compared with last season, but transfer market opportunism is shifting priorities.<\/p>\n
United\u2019s lack of depth at the top of the pitch has been underlined by the temporary departures of Mbeumo and Amad to the Africa Cup of Nations with Cameroon and Ivory Coast respectively, and by Benjamin \u0160e\u0161ko only recently returning from injury. A couple of injuries while players are on international duty could leave the front line short, which is informing interest in Semenyo.<\/p>\n
Sky Sports writes United are \u201cfirmly in the race\u201d for Semenyo as the Ghana international\u2019s \u00a365 million release clause becomes active next month. Manchester City are \u201ckeeping close tabs\u201d and Tottenham remain in the mix, but United feel the release clause is an opportunity they must \u201cgenuinely consider,\u201d even if adding another forward was not the original plan.<\/p>\n
Semenyo scored against United at Old Trafford in Monday\u2019s pulsating 4-4 draw, and his long-standing profile on United\u2019s radar means interest is not a knee-jerk reaction.<\/p>\n
Any approach carries a financial caveat: it must not reduce funds available to recruit a midfielder in the summer. Elliot Anderson, Adam Wharton, Carlos Baleba, Conor Gallagher, Jo\u00e3o Gomes, Andr\u00e9, Angelo Stiller and \u00c9derson have all been linked, with reported price ranges from \u00a330\u2013\u00a3100 million.<\/p>\n
United\u2019s failure to beat Bournemouth despite four goals underlined defensive issues. Conceding two goals in quick succession after half time has been a recurring problem, and 26 goals conceded leaves the club with the sixth worst defensive record this season. \u201cI think we are pressing better, we are controlling games better far from our goal,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we need to work a lot in the way we defend the box. ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
United weigh a move for Antoine Semenyo as his \u00a365m release clause nears activation next month soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1083,969,1163],"tags":[216,801,1012],"class_list":["post-5148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-man-utd","category-premier-league","category-transfers","tag-adam-wharton","tag-antoine-semenyo","tag-burnley-style"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}