The sad reality of being a fan of a club like AFC Bournemouth, is that when you have a player perform to the levels Antoine Semenyo has so far this season, the immediate attention turns to his future away from the club. It was the same for Dean Huijsen, Milos Kerkez and Illia Zabarnyi last season, it’s the same for Semenyo now; whoever stands out for AFCB in the future, it will be the same for them.

I’m not naive enough to expect anything less – I don’t blame the players for leaving for bigger clubs, and the fees that eventually come in for these players are usually far more what we paid for them. This means we can comfortably adhere to PSR + FFP rules, and with the way the recruitment team have worked so far, they’re likely to find a gem to replace the outgoing player.

But that doesn’t take away from the tiring journey we go on as fans, unrelenting for months as media outlets and certain journalists seem to try their best to sell our players away. These screenshots are all taken within 24 hours, regarding Semenyo leaving the club, despite it only being October.

As previously mentioned – it’s October. To have had all of that in the space of 24 hours, in the wake of his marvellous performance against Fulham, genuinely feels draining. It means that even though we can enjoy watching him on the pitch – and we will – that it will always be in the back of our minds that after the game we will log onto social media and see him linked away.

This isn’t an attack on the account ‘DeadlineDayLive‘, for they are only reporting the news they see, knowing that this is relevant news that will get them clicks. But let me get one thing straight now: Antoine Semenyo will not be leaving AFC Bournemouth in January.

Let me get another, very important thing straight: it’s October – there is not going to be a value on Semenyo already. Why would there be a value set on his head at this stage when we don’t know how he will perform for the rest of the season?

That is meant in a positive way of course. Scoring six goals and grabbing three assists in seven PL games is a rate that is likely going to be unsustainable for Semenyo, but there is no reason he couldn’t get close to 30 goal contributions for the season if he stays injury free. Should he do that, given the levels he has shown, given his very unique attributes, why wouldn’t we ask for ~£100M? As well as that, we don’t know where the club are going to finish up – could Semenyo stick around for another year as the main man if the club can push it’s way into Europe?

There is very little loyalty in football, but Semenyo has shown something close to that by signing contract extensions two years on the bounce. He seems very happy down on the South Coast, but there is no doubt when the big teams come calling it’s hard not to have your head turned.

That’s more than understandable, as previously mentioned I have no issue with that. This article is merely saying that when these players are getting linked away every day, it can be very draining and take some of the enjoyment away. That is part and parcel of football, especially in this era where every transfer is leaked online before it happens, and when you’re a club like Bournemouth, your best players tend to leave. The hope will be that one day, that is no longer the case. The club are certainly building towards something that means that could be the reality sooner rather than later – but for now, we must endure the months of Semenyo being linked away seemingly every day.

It must be mentioned that out of all the sources, the only truly credible one comes from talkSPORT, as it was a report from Alex Crook, who is reliable when it comes to AFCB. But even that feels like lazy journalism, just linking Semenyo to Liverpool because of Richard Hughes. It doesn’t mean that Liverpool don’t want him – who wouldn’t? – but at this stage it doesn’t feel like a report of much substance. And as previously stated – why would Semenyo already have a price tag, especially for just £75M.

It is especially important to remember not to believe everything you see on the internet, especially when it comes to transfer rumours. As a Bournemouth fan, the best ‘in the know’ source is definitely Mark McAdam – if it comes from him, take it as Gospel. David Ornstein and Fabrizio Romano seemed to have picked up some sources within the club over the years, Ornstein an alumni of Bournemouth University, and they are extremely reliable too.

But from a Bournemouth perspective, it felt like Romano would only ever try and link players away, clearly linking with agents. In terms of the outgoing AFCB defenders (Kerkez, Huijsen and Zabarnyi), there were countless tweets from the Italian journalist. The annoying thing was, some of these weren’t even new updates, he would just reword the same news. It was very frustrating to see our players being sold away like that – putting more pressure on the club to sell with this info out in the public domain.

I’m sure Romano doesn’t have any sort of problem with AFCB, but it feels somewhat inevitable that in the months to come, he will be posting countless updates on Semenyo’s performances, with cryptic posts to link him away. If it’s not Romano, it will undoubtedly be someone else. People will do whatever gets them clicks, and it’s easy to link Semenyo away to a bigger club in order to get those clicks.

If you want my two pence, I can’t imagine Semenyo going to many of the clubs he has been linked to so far, especially United, Chelsea or Spurs. He has shown the ability to go to one of the game’s giants – United are no longer that, Spurs never have been and Chelsea are overloaded with attackers already. He is an Arsenal fan, and could well be the missing piece for Mikel Arteta’s side, so I would expect to see him linked there.

For now, I will try my best to enjoy a player who only gets better and better year on year – I will not enjoy the media circus that comes with that. It’s a privilege to have one of the best wingers in the league play for my club, but there is a price to pay for that. There will be much more of this to come as we grow as a club and continue to unearth gems from our recruitment team.