Humble, powerful, ready - Semenyo returns to where World Cup rise began

It was the training ground moment that showed Antoine Semenyo was ready to take a breakthrough step in his career.

Mike Flynn was watching on as one of the biggest players in his Newport County squad had aimed a shoulder barge at the teenager signed on loan from Bristol City without a senior start in professional football to his name.

"He just held him off the ball without a problem," recalls the former Newport boss. "You knew he was a special kid. He was raw but we'd already seen he had talent and how good he was off both feet.

"But in that moment, you knew he was ready. We started him the next game."

Eight years on, Semenyo has been on the exact same training pitch on the outskirts of the south Wales city as Ghana based themselves in Newport to prepare for the World Cup.

No longer the rejected striker trying to find his way in the game, Semenyo has returned a £62.5m attacking talent tipped to shine for the Black Stars when they face Panama, England and Croatia in Group L this month.

Now he is the FA Cup final matchwinner for Manchester City and the great hope for Ghana to emulate their quarter-final finish in 2010, an instantly recognisable figure.

"Back then of course he was just a lad that's turned up on loan from Bristol City and who'd been playing non-league not too long before," says Wales midfielder Josh Sheehan, a Rodney Parade team-mate when Semenyo joined in 2018.

"You don't tend to judge too much, you just think you'll see what he's like in training, and wonder if an 18-year-old is going to get a bit bullied in League Two.

"But, to be honest, he was just a different level. Strong, fast, ability, almost like a complete forward – you knew he was going to kick on and do something special."

Flynn had already seen a sneak peak, taking all of five minutes to agree the loan after watching him in action having been trusted by Bristol City's loan chief Brian Tinnion to help with his development.

"The problem we had is that we had two good, experienced strikers," says Flynn, of Padraig Amond and Jamille Matt – both heroes of Newport's giant-killing FA Cup run that season.

"But we just knew we had to get him in, so we used a new formation with him on the left.

"We just couldn't leave him out."

It was a positional tweak that both Bournemouth and Pep Guardiola would eventually benefit from, though not before making his mark at Newport.

"I think most fans could see he was going places, but what stood out for me was what he was like on the training ground and in the dressing room," says Mark O'Brien, Semenyo's captain during his time at Newport. "What stuck out as a player was how strong and powerful he was for a kid.

"But his attitude was everything. He'd give everything he had, whether it was in training or on the pitch. That's the key and you can see he's kept that.

"He was like this blank canvas that wanted to learn from everything."

O'Brien admits Newport's "strong" dressing room could have easily crumbled a teenager not ready to grow up, and wouldn't have let him get away with any sense of entitlement, especially when talk began of Premier League interest.

"But we didn't need to, that wasn't him," the former defender says.

"Perhaps it was because he didn't realise how good he was or how good he could be.

"He was just really humble and respectful.

"And that's why we all wanted him to do well, because you definitely thought this was the beginning of something from him."

It was. Two of Semenyo's final games were a hint of what was to come, shining in an FA Cup win over Leicester in front of the Match of the Day cameras against a Premier League winning defence.

Martin Keown wrote at the time he had witnessed "a star in the making" and warned he would not be surprised if Premier League clubs were watching.

By the time Newport drew at Middlesbrough in the fourth round – where Semenyo's strength teed up Sheehan to provide Matt Dolan's late leveller – Bristol City were ready to recall the teenager for the next steps of his career.

"They'd had a £2m bid from Chelsea and wanted him back early – I was gutted," admits Flynn, who has stayed in touch with the player who eventually went to the top flight with a £10m move to Bournemouth a few years later.

"He was obviously a special talent, but he was a special kid first and foremost. He'd have this smile that would light up a room.

"His parents and family mean everything to him, and that upbringing and attitude has helped him get to where he is now."

And where he is set for, with the World Cup calling after this return to humble Welsh beginnings.

It will not be Semenyo's first. He made his debut for the nation he qualifies for via his parents in time for Qatar in 2022, although he was yet to make his first international start.

Now, with three goals in 34 caps, he is a player the Black Stars are turning towards to cause a stir.

"He's done brilliant," Ghana captain Jordan Ayew says before the game at Cardiff City Stadium.

"We all know the season he's had. He took his form at Bournemouth to Manchester City and Ghanaians are proud of him and as a team we are proud of him.

"We just hope that he will keep on doing it - and doing it for Ghana."