Tottenham Hotspur are in need of one more major attacking upgrade to boost their squad in the January transfer window, and while there are a few options available for Thomas Frank and Co. to try and pursue, there is no question that the most popular among them is Antoine Semenyo.
The Bournemouth star winger was already on Spurs radar this past summer transfer window, but Spurs were lukewarm about signing him for upwards of 70 milllon pounds. But after taking yet another big leap forward in 2025/26 and adding more goals to his resume now as a left winger, Semenyo is an even more enticing transfer target for Tottenham with a release clause of 65 million pounds set to kick in for the beginning of the month of January.
Tottenham have been consistently named as one of the teams most interested in Semenyo over the last several weeks, but so have other Big Six Premier League rivals in Manchester City, Liverpool, and Manchester United. Spurs biggest rivals, Arsenal, were also mentioned a while back, but Semenyo's favorite childhood club have been lukewarm in their pursuit more recently, which initially gave Spurs high hopes that they could make a successful swoop.
Tottenham are nowhere near now
Now, though, it looks like Tottenham are nowhere near the picture despite seemingly being one of the favorites at some point. Per another crushing report, this time from Mark Doulgas and Peter Hall for iPaperSport, Tottenham Hotspur are not one of the favorites to sign Antoine Semenyo. In fact, the news cycle has now shockingly flipped from Liverpool being favored to Manchester City to now, per Douglas and Hall, Manchester United being placed No. 1 to sign the Bournemouth star.
Since Semenyo has a flat release clause that is the same for any team that wants to sign him in January, the entire transfer battle is going to come down to wages paid and the project presented to the player. Tottenham would seem to have an advantage in terms of the role Semenyo would have, as he would be an essential starter on the left wing. Meanwhile, Manchester United, Manchester City, and Liverpool already made major summer signings who can play on that side of the formation or would otherwise crowd Semenyo out.
If Tottenham lose out to Manchester United for another top player after United pipped them for Thomas Frank disciple Bryan Mbeumo, then that will be a truly embarrassing outcome for Spurs. It would be wild for Spurs to go from beating Man Untied in the Europa League Final to not even being able to compete with them for not one but two top transfer targets in the attack.