Antoine Semenyo has revealed he once quit football after being rejected by a Premier League club at the age of 15.
Aside from perhaps Erling Haaland, no player in the Premier League has caught the eye more than Semenyo this campaign, with the Bournemouth star elevating his game to chalk up nine goal contributions already in the division.
His stunning vein of form has been integral to the Cherries' impressive start to the season under Andoni Iraola, with Bournemouth sitting fourth level on points with reigning champions Liverpool and just four points adrift of leaders Arsenal.
Opening up on how he has taken that next step to become the main man at Bournemouth, with six goals and three assists already to his name, Semenyo told The Times that he makes detailed notes in a journal on how to improve after watching clips immediately after matches.
According to Semenyo, it is a habit he has done of a while. The Ghanaian used Bournemouth's dramatic 3-2 win over Everton at Goodison Park last season as an example of how the journal and video clips aided his goal-scoring and the team.
With Bournemouth 2-0 down, Semenyo sparked a miraculous comeback with a goal in the 87th minute, before Lewis Cook and Luis Sinisterra both netted in stoppage time to claim a famous victory.
'I get clips from all the games, every game,' he told the newspaper. 'I've got an analyst to send me videos. I watch them on my own.
'The game prior to the Everton game [against Newcastle United], I got sent some clips and there were so many opportunities where the back post is being hit, and I wasn't there to arrive to score. So I was working on it in training, also writing it in the journal.
'And then it got to the Everton game, and all I could think of was what I'd written down in the journal. So it was like, when that moment is right, I'll make sure I'm there. And the first goal leading to that comeback [Bournemouth won 3-2] I was in that position.
'You have to take that gamble. You have to. And the manager always says to me, "Just take that gamble. You never know what happens." So, from that point onwards, I made sure that if I'm not making a back post in one game, the next game, 100 per cent, I'm making a back post every time.'
Bournemouth, who signed Semenyo from Bristol City for just £9million in 2023, told clubs they would only consider selling the Ghana international for £75m in the summer.
Despite establishing himself as one of the hottest properties in the Premier League, Semenyo once quit football as a teenager after being rejected by Crystal Palace.
The Eagles snub was a final straw for Semenyo, who had been shunted around several clubs and saw Crystal Palace as a last opportunity to break through.
'I was just fed up from not getting into most of the teams I went on trial to, so I think Crystal Palace was my breaking point. It was just like, you know what, let me just be a kid again — enjoy my friends, go to school, just be normal,' he said.
'During my teenage years I was going on trial to so many clubs, so I didn’t get to spend time with friends a lot. It was straight from school, straight to training, straight from school, straight to training — that was just the routine most days. I just wanted to be normal again, so that’s essentially why I quit.'
In an effort to forget about football, the forward spent a year out of the game playing basketball — before an opportunity arose at Bishop's Stortford.
Semenyo's uncle heard about the opportunity of an open trial at the non-league club and the Ghanaian impressed, despite being 'overweight' at his own admission.
From there, the 25-year-old star joined Bristol City's youth academy before earning a promotion to their senior team, racking up over 100 appearances for the club before his move to the Vitality Stadium.
