Exclusive: Bristol City reject £9m offer for coveted striker Antoine Semenyo

Bristol City have turned down an offer worth £9 million for forward Antoine Semenyo, BristolWorld understands.

The big-money bid came from an unnamed team but shows that the Robins will not let their star players leave Ashton Gate for anything less than huge money in this transfer window.

Semenyo has a year left on his current contract, but has an additional option year that the club is expected to trigger to make the recent Ghana international harder to purchase this summer.

The Robins could conceivably hold out for a season and sell for a big offer next year, if the 22-year-old cannot be persuaded to sign a new deal to remain in BS3.

Manager Nigel Pearson would then have another 12 months to convince Semenyo that his future should be at Ashton Gate still. He is expected to cost interested sides more than £15m to buy in this window.

A whole host of Premier League sides are watching the situation, and following Semenyo making his international debut for Ghana recently, additional international interest has arisen.

The Bristol City academy graduate - who could go on to become the latest local young talent to net the Robins big money after Lloyd Kelly, Bobby Reid and Joe Bryan moved on - scored eight goals and grabbed 12 assists in a breakthrough campaign at Ashton Gate in 2021/22.

Nottingham Forest were interested in the player last January and the now-Premier-League side could come back for the former SGS College Filton striker this window, enriched by the bounties of making it to the top tier of English football.

Bournemouth, Fulham, Celtic and Crystal Palace have all been linked with the player in the past months too.

Unfortunately Semenyo is currently injured. He returned from Ghana international duty with a shin complaint, and has been advised plenty of rest.

But in a positive sign for Bristol City supporters, the London-born attacker has fronted the club’s new home shirt campaign, indicating how central the player is the Robins’ thinking.

Although Semenyo has ambitions to play in the Premier League, as confirmed by Pearson towards the end of the season, City CEO Richard Gould and his staff still hope to persuade the powerhouse forward that he can achieve that dream at Ashton Gate in the coming seasons.

“He’s got the profile of a top striker,” said Pearson of the player before City played Peterborough last April.

“He’s a very grounded young man, he’s a talented boy and he’s ambitious too. You’ve got to be ambitious. There’s no point having all the attributes and not being ambitious.

“If you’re not ambitious you may as well go and do a different job,” added Pearson.