Jamie Redknapp reveals who led him astray over Semenyo to Liverpool transfer claim on live TV
It’s been quite a week in the life of Antoine Semenyo, who since last Wednesday has scored in three separate matches for two different teams.
In the space of seven days, he signed off his Bournemouth career with a last-gasp winner against Tottenham Hotspur, signed for Manchester City, scored on his debut for them in a 10-1 FA Cup drubbing of Exeter and netted again in a 2-0 Carabao Cup victory at Newcastle.
He also celebrated his 26th birthday, had another goal chalked off at St James’ Park after an interminable VAR review and was even the subject of a claim from Jamie Redknapp that Liverpool could hijack his move to the Etihad Stadium before that £64m transfer was completed.
Redknapp owns up to erroneous Semenyo transfer claim
The ex-Liverpool midfielder was on Sky Sports‘ coverage of the Man City game last night when he was goaded about his erroneous on-air claim that Arne Slot’s side could make a late swoop for Semenyo, and he called out his father (former top-flight manager Harry Redknapp) over the false tip-off.
The pundit said: “I heard there was going to be a twist, and there wasn’t! I’m not going to lie, sometimes you get information from people, and you expect better.
“On this occasion, my dad called me. He was at that game at Bournemouth when Semenyo scored that incredible goal [v Spurs last week], and he said, ‘I think there might be a twist and he might be going to Liverpool’. I thought, ‘I’m going to say that on air!’
“I thought I had turned into Fabrizio Romano for five seconds, and I got it completely wrong.”
Liverpool must now move on from missing out on Semenyo
There are countless transfer stories of 11th-hour curveballs which completely change the course of a deal – it looked for all the world that Cody Gakpo was going to Manchester United three years ago before Liverpool stole in – but that wasn’t to be the case with Semenyo.
Considering the start that the Ghanaian has had to his Man City (two goals in his first two games, and another perhaps harshly disallowed), it’d be understandable if some Reds fans felt a tinge of regret that we didn’t sign the 26-year-old despite being heavily linked for a long time.
Alas, the former Bournemouth man will be at the Etihad for the foreseeable future, and the Anfield hierarchy will need to divert their attention elsewhere if they intend to sign a left-sided attacker in 2026.
It seems unlikely that it’ll happen this month, with the ever-reliable James Pearce indicating that the January window is ‘likely to be a quiet’ one for Liverpool, although they might react ‘if the right opportunity becomes available at the right price’.
The Reds have form for notable mid-season signings (Luis Suarez, Philippe Coutinho, Virgil van Dijk, Luis Diaz), so we wouldn’t completely rule out a big-name addition in the coming weeks. Let’s wait and see what (if anything) materialises.
You can watch Slot’s full post-Barnsley press conference below, via Empire of the Kop on YouTube:
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