Antoine Semenyo makes history in PFA Premier League Team of Year

Antoine Semenyo has become the first Ghanaian player to be named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year. The Manchester City right winger was included in the annual XI at the PFA Awards ceremony on Tuesday, 25 August 2026, after a 2025/26 season that took him from Bournemouth to the centre of English football’s individual honours.

Semenyo is one of four Manchester City players in the team, alongside Nico O’Reilly, Rayan Cherki and Erling Haaland. Arsenal provide five members of the XI after recording the Premier League’s best defensive record, with David Raya, Jurriën Timber, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães and Declan Rice selected. Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes and Brentford striker Igor Thiago complete the lineup.

The selection is voted for by fellow professional footballers, giving Semenyo recognition from the players who faced him during the campaign. His inclusion also places him alongside Haaland and Thiago, who scored 27 and 22 Premier League goals respectively. Fernandes contributed 21 league assists, a record, while Arsenal’s defensive group helped their team concede only 27 goals.

Semenyo’s rise has been rapid. He joined Manchester City from Bournemouth during the 2025/26 season in a transfer recorded at €72 million. Before that move, he had developed at Bournemouth after joining from Bristol City for €10.25m in 2022/23. His earlier senior transfer history also includes moves between Bristol City and Sunderland in 2019/20, making his progression to a club competing for major domestic honours particularly striking.

His first appearance for City came on 10 January 2026 in a 10-1 FA Cup win over Exeter City. Semenyo scored in the 54th minute, created another goal in the 49th minute and was named Man of the Match. Three days later, he produced another major display in the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-final against Newcastle United, scoring twice in a 2-0 victory. One of those efforts was ruled out by VAR after Haaland was judged offside and to have obstructed goalkeeper Nick Pope.

Those performances established the character of his impact at City. Reports from his season describe a forward who used pace, strength and direct running to alter matches, while also operating on either wing. His biggest contribution came in the FA Cup final against Chelsea, where a spectacular back-flick helped City win 1-0. City went on to win both the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup during the campaign.

Semenyo finished the season with 21 goals and six assists in 48 appearances across all competitions. That output underlined his importance to City’s domestic-cup success and explains why his individual recognition arrived alongside honours for his teammates. O’Reilly was named PFA Young Player of the Year, while Haaland finished with 38 goals in all competitions and claimed his third Golden Boot after scoring 27 in the Premier League.

The database lists Semenyo as a 26-year-old Ghanaian and English right winger, with Manchester City as his current club and a market value of €80m. It also records him as currently ill and carrying calf problems, details that add a fitness question to the next phase of his campaign. His PFA selection, however, marks a completed season of historic importance: no Ghanaian had previously appeared in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year, and Semenyo has now done so after making an immediate impact at one of England’s leading clubs.