Semenyo is one of those names that pops up and you can instantly see the appeal. He’s quick, strong, can hit a shot, and being two-footed is never a bad thing for a forward who might be asked to play off either side. On the eye, he looks like a Premier League attacker who can hurt teams.
But when you start thinking about what Liverpool tend to need, it gets a bit more complicated. We don’t live off chaos every week. A lot of our football is about facing organised sides, teams sat in, and trying to prise open a low block with patience, combinations and that little bit of craft.
Transition monster, but what about the locked door?
Where Semenyo seems to thrive is in transition. Give him grass to run into, a defence turning, and suddenly his pace and power become a real weapon. That’s valuable, obviously. Liverpool at our best have always been devastating when games open up.
The concern is the other side of the coin: when the opponent is set, compact, and you need someone who can repeatedly beat a man, slide through tight angles, and keep making the right decision in crowded areas. Semenyo doesn’t strike me as that elite 1v1 dribbler who constantly shifts the defensive block on his own. He’s not poor at it, far from it, but I’m not sure he’s the answer to the “how do we break this down?” question.
The work rate argument (and it’s not nothing)
What does pull you back towards him is the graft. You can’t fake that. In a Liverpool side that asks its forwards to press properly, track, and keep doing it even when the ball isn’t coming your way, that matters.
As a squad option, a rotation forward who brings honest intensity and a bit of physical edge, you can make a case. Sometimes you need someone who changes the tone of a game just by being awkward to play against.
But he can’t be “the Salah replacement”
And this is the key bit. If the conversation is framed as replacing Salah, then Semenyo feels like a massive step down. Salah’s output, his reliability, the way he bends games towards Liverpool, that’s a different bracket entirely. Any signing in that role needs to bring either elite end product, elite chance creation, or both. Semenyo, to me, looks more like a useful attacker than a statement one.
If Liverpool are shopping for a top-end forward, it’s fair to ask if a different profile suits us better: someone more explosive 1v1, more comfortable in tight spaces, even if they’re coming from a weaker league and carry a bit more risk. That’s why names like Yan Diomade will naturally get fans debating the upside versus the certainty.
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