Ruben Amorim met £75m Premier League star for dinner before transfer collapsed

Ruben Amorim met Antoine Semenyo to ‘judge the player’s character’ (Picture: Getty)

Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim reportedly had dinner with AFC Bournemouth star Antoine Semenyo over a potential transfer move.

Semenyo has shined in the Premier League, with The Sun reporting earlier this year that the Cherries had placed a £75m price tag on the 25-year-old.

It is believed that United were only willing to fork out £55m for the Ghana international as a possible move to Old Trafford collapsed this summer.

Semenyo mainly operates as a right winger or left winger for the south coast side but can also be deployed as a centre-forward.

He conjured up 11 goals and six assists across 37 top-flight games for Bournemouth last term, helping them to an impressive ninth-placed finish, the joint-best league season in Bournemouth’s 126-year history.

Semenyo has continued to impress this season, registering two goals and an assist across the Cherries’ opening three Premier League matches.

The former Bristol City star has just been nominated for the Premier League Player of the Month award over his strong form in August.

Antoine Semenyo has shined in the Premier League for Bournemouth (Picture: Getty)

United were keen on Semenyo in the summer transfer window and pushed hard for a move with Amorim meeting the winger for dinner in London ‘to judge the player’s character’, according to The Transfers Podcast.

Totteham and Newcastle United were also rumoured to be interested in a deal for Semenyo – but he ended up signing a new deal with Bournemouth.

Speaking after he penned a fresh contract with Bournemouth, Semenyo described the club as his ‘safe place’ where he feels ‘wanted’.

Antoine Semenyo has described Bournemouth as his ‘safe place’ (Picture: Getty)

‘If you go somewhere, you want to feel wanted, and I didn’t feel that,’ Semenyo told Sky Sports.

‘This is my safe place. I felt wanted. It feels great. I want to be playing, that’s the most important thing for me.

‘We’ve got a good group here and we’re wanting to achieve top things this year. So this is the best place to be right now.’

Bournemouth lost a number of key players in the summer window including Dean Huijsen, Milos Kerkez and Illia Zabarnyi – who were sold to Real Madrid, Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain respectively.

Having lost those important first-team stars, the Cherries were reluctant to sell any more of their top players like Semenyo.

Bournemouth have already replaced Huijsen, Kerkez and Zabarnyi with Bafode Diakite, Adrien Truffert and Veljko Milosavljevic.

Football pundit Gary Neville recently tipped Truffert as his Premier League ‘player to watch’ for the 2025-26 campaign.

Meanwhile, Tiago Pinto, Bournemouth’s President of Football Operations, is hoping to secure a new contract for Cherries head coach Andoni Iraola.

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