Stefan Borson: This is the ‘issue’ Man City will face after finalising Antoine Semenyo deal
Manchester City are closing in on a deal to sign Antoine Semenyo as they look to improve their squad for the second half of the season.
Semenyo has a £65million release clause in his Bournemouth contract that can be activated before 10 January.
Liverpool have also been pushing to sign Semenyo, but it is understood his preference is to join Pep Guardiola’s side.
The Ghana international was spotted waving to the Bournemouth fans after their 2-2 draw against Chelsea on Tuesday (30 December).
Semenyo is expected to join Man City once the transfer window opens, with the parties working on the final details of the agreement.
Man City costs go through the roof after £400m+ reveal
Former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider the “issue” for Guardiola’s side is their wage bill is “extremely high”, with the anticipated signing of Semenyo set to increase their costs.
Man City have paid the highest wages in the Premier League over the past few years, but their total dropped slightly from £412.6m to £408.4m last season.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson said: “I think they can complete the Semenyo deal. The issue that they’ve got is that the wage bill continues to be extremely high at over £400m total.
“That’s not just the playing side, obviously we don’t know the breakdown, but I think it’s too high relative to where the club is at the moment in terms of what it was last season and the profile of the squad.
“It’s not like that they have multiple very high-profile players, who are sort of the top earners in the world. I think what they’ve got is actually a fairly big squad with a lot of players earning quite a lot of money.”
Guardiola previously revealed he wants to work with a smaller squad after being forced to leave several players out on matchdays.
Why Man City could agree multiple sales
Borson insisted Man City will look to reduce the size of their squad despite pushing to sign Semenyo.
“I think you’re just going to see the squad being trimmed a little bit,” said Borson.
“I think it’s getting quite big. I think they’re going to want to bring that wage bill down a little bit, especially in line with what’s going on out there at some of the other clubs. Obviously, Manchester United are reducing their wage bill quite aggressively.
“That’s probably not the case at Arsenal or Liverpool to be fair, but I just think if you get to £410m for a season where you don’t win anything, you just have to check yourselves and say ‘Where is the wage bill going, what’s the current run rate, and can we keep acquiring players without selling?.”
Man City are expected to receive interest for multiple players as rival clubs look for a bargain in the January window.
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