Bristol City striker Antoine Semenyo misses out on Ghana international duty after knee injury

Bristol City forward Antoine Semenyo will not join Ghana on international duty this week, due to his knee injury sustained on Saturday.

The 22-year-old was withdrawn after six minutes playing against West Bromwich Albion at the weekend.

Following the game manager Nigel Pearson explained that the player had sustained a “jarred knee”.

Semenyo had a scan on Sunday to examine the damage and is now set for a spell out. While the club waits for full confirmation on the blow, the initial suggestion is that the player will not play again this season to allow for a complete recovery.

The livewire striker has revelled in a no.9-style striker role this campaign, leading the line with Chris Martin with Andi Weimann running off the pair from deeper - forming the ‘WSM’ attack, as fans have called the attacking trio.

So far Semenyo has six goals and eight assists this term, from 1,697 minutes played in the league.

New Ghana technical advisor Chris Hughton recently watched Semenyo, against Fulham at Ashton Gate in the FA Cup third round, ahead of calling him up for the two games against Nigeria, which will see one of those two sides qualify for World Cup Qatar 2022.

The Black Stars play a first leg at the Cape Coast Stadium on 25 March with a second leg being held at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja on 29 March.

Semenyo would have been in the squad and were it not for Ghana delaying official confirmation of the travelling party in a bid to stop Nigeria knowing who might play, then the Bristol City attacker would have been named last week.

It is dreadful timing for Semenyo, who has has really blossomed in 2021/22 and was due to fly out on Sunday.

The academy product has really developed in the last year and the Robins are in contract talks with the former SGS College striker to extend his current contract at Ashton Gate, which runs out in the summer of 2023 but includes an optional year extra to extend to 2024.

“Antoine has come in and obviously hit some great form. We’re devastated to soo him get hurt,” said fellow forward Nahki Wells after Saturday’s 2-2 draw against the Baggies.

“He’s a great kid and a great person. Hopefully it’s nothing major because he’s on to big things in his career and we want to see him continue to thrive.”

Meanwhile, it’s a case of one striker in and one striker out for the Robins.

Andi Weimann will be away on international duty this week after a late call-up to the Austria squad to face Wales in the World Cup 2022 qualifying play-offs.

Following injuries to Florian Grillitsch, Christopher Trimmel, Philipp Lienhart and Dejan Ljubicic, coach Franco Fode has added Kevin Danso, Stefan Ilsanker, Alessandro Schöpf and Andreas Weimann to his squad for Thursday’s vital semi-final playoff clash being played in Cardiff.