Heading into the month of December, there is no bigger story in the Premier League right now than the transfer battle for Bournemouth star winger Antoine Semenyo, who is wanted by Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City, and Liverpool.
Basically, the entire BIg Six is after Semenyo, who was already a breakout star for Bournemouth last season but has elevated his stock further in the 2025/26 campaign with a switch to the left wing. He's been one of the two best players in the entire Premier League this season, and you can see why Spurs and everyone else are so keen on signing him.
Although Spurs are among the teams favored to sign him with Liverpool likely ahead of the pack in the early going, Manchester United are emerging as a real darkhorse despite already filling out their entire front three with Benjamin Sesko, Matheus Cunha, and, of course, Bryan Mbeumo last summer.
Tottenham need to be wary of Man United
In a recent appearance on The United Stand show, top transfer insider Ben Jacobs, who had the best summer window of any reporter in the business, gave some Manchester United transfer news on Antoine Semenyo that will concern Tottenham fans. Jacobs stated that there is no financial barrier that would stop Manchester United from signing Semenyo, who has a 65 million pound release clause that is active this winter transfer window.
Meanwhile, Tottenham could have paid that exact amount for Semenyo this past summer and matched the record spend on Dominic Solanke, yet they were unwilling to do so. And Spurs have rarely spent even 50 million pounds on a player, with Solanke, Xavi Simons, and Mohammed Kudus being recent examples.
Manchester United are willing to put their money where their mouth is, as they did this summer with the trio of Sesko, Cunha, and Mbeumo to revamp their squad. They are willing to do so again for Semenyo and have to be considered serious players for Semenyo, especially from the Tottenham perspective after how badly they beat them to the punch for Mbeumo in the summer 2025 window.
Tottenham are supposedly favored over Man United for Semenyo in the early going, but that is all dependent on if Spurs are willing to open their checkbooks to both Bournemouth and the player himself - let's not forget that literal half of the equation here. Because the Semenyo battle is going to be as tough as it gets among these five big English clubs.