Antoine Semenyo has revealed how a journaling habit he developed at the age of 14 helped him stay focused on his ambitions, crediting the practice with playing an important role in his journey from rejected academy prospect to one of the Premier League’s leading forwards.
The Manchester City winger says he has spent years writing down his thoughts, plans and personal goals, using the habit to reflect on his progress and maintain his focus through the highs and lows of his career.
However, Semenyo’s rise to the top was far from straightforward. As a teenager, he faced repeated rejection from professional clubs, including Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Millwall and Crystal Palace. After failing to secure a place at Crystal Palace following an extended trial, he became so discouraged that he stepped away from football for a year to concentrate on school and enjoy life away from the game.
His return to football eventually changed everything.
From rejection to a second chance
Semenyo’s football ambitions were seriously tested during his teenage years. Despite his desire to become a professional, successive unsuccessful trials left him questioning whether the dream was worth pursuing.
At 15, after spending around two months on trial at Crystal Palace without being offered a place, he decided to take a break from football.
According to his account in an interview with FIFA, the disappointment became overwhelming, and he chose to focus on his education for a year rather than continue chasing opportunities that had repeatedly failed to materialise.
His opportunity to return came through Dave Hockaday, a former Leeds United manager who was working at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College. An open trial gave Semenyo another chance to demonstrate his ability, and his performances in matches against professional academies helped him attract Bristol City’s attention.
Bristol City signed him in 2017, and in January 2018 he secured his first professional contract. It was a significant breakthrough for a player who had come close to abandoning the sport just a year earlier.
Yet earning a professional contract was only the beginning of another demanding stage of his development.
Loan spells, limited opportunities and lessons in resilience
After joining Bristol City, Semenyo had to prove himself in senior football. His development included loan spells at Bath City, Newport County and Sunderland, exposing him to different levels of the English game before he established himself in Bristol City’s first team.
His first senior loan, at Bath City, brought an early lesson in the physical demands of adult football. Semenyo later explained that the experience was very different from playing youth football, with rougher pitches, more experienced opponents and a more physical style of play.
At Newport County, he continued his development and began playing more regularly as a winger rather than as a striker, a positional change that helped shape the player he would become.
His progress was not always smooth, however. During his time at Bristol City, Semenyo endured periods when he struggled to secure regular playing time. He recalled a difficult start under manager Nigel Pearson, admitting that he questioned why he was not being selected.
Pearson encouraged him to make better use of his pace and shooting ability, advising him to focus on running and shooting. Semenyo subsequently found his rhythm and enjoyed a productive period in Bristol City’s attack. <Cite refs={[“turn953509search6″,”turn953509search1”]}/>
Those experiences help explain why the forward now places such importance on his mentality. His development was not simply a story of talent being recognised; it also involved dealing with disappointment, adapting to new environments and continuing to work when opportunities were limited.
How journaling became part of his routine
Speaking to UEFA ahead of Manchester City’s Champions League meeting with Paris Saint-Germain, Semenyo explained how journaling evolved from something he did as a child into a daily habit centred on reflection and goal-setting.
“I did it as a kid a lot. I wrote a lot of random stuff and as I’ve got older I’ve focused on what I’ve done during the day,” Semenyo said.
“A lot of the time I was overthinking so it became a habit. I manifest what I want for the season, for the years ahead and it’s worked out well so far.”
The Ghanaian international revealed that the habit began with a book his mother had bought for schoolwork. Instead of using it exclusively for homework, he began filling it with personal thoughts, notes and ambitions.
“I don’t really remember why I started. My mum got me a big book that was meant to be for homework but it became for random stuff. Some of the things in there can be random, just like notes but a lot of it is what I want to achieve,” he explained.
For Semenyo, the value of journaling lies in being able to revisit his ambitions and assess how far he has progressed.
“Every goal that I’ve written down so far has manifested. When anything pops up, I write it down and come back to it to see it at a later stage,” he added.
His approach offers a glimpse into how he manages his ambitions away from the pitch, using written reflection to maintain direction while navigating the demands of elite football.
Learning and growing at Manchester City
Semenyo’s development has continued as he has progressed through the English football pyramid, from non-league football to the Championship, the Premier League and now Manchester City.
His move to Bournemouth in January 2023 marked another major step in his career. After adapting to top-flight football, he developed into an increasingly influential attacking player, attracting interest from several leading clubs before joining City in January 2026.
At City, Semenyo has emphasised the importance of understanding the rhythm of a match, knowing when to accelerate play, when to slow things down and when to take on opponents.
“From day one, I had to understand myself as a player,” he said.
“It’s understanding the pace of the game, when to go slow, when to speed it up, when to dribble. Pep drilled that into me a lot and it’s helped me.”
He added that reflecting on those lessons through journaling allows him to assess his development and measure his progress against the goals he has set himself.
“That’s where the journaling comes in because I’ve written all this stuff down. Then I can go back to it and tick it off,” Semenyo explained.
“I’m playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world. We’re playing our best football and I’m with star players and I’m still learning about myself every day.”
The setbacks that shaped his mentality
Beyond goal-setting, Semenyo believes the difficult periods of his career helped develop the resilience he relies on today.
His experience includes being rejected by several academies, stepping away from football as a teenager, adapting to the physical demands of lower-league football and spending periods out of the team while trying to establish himself at Bristol City.
Rather than allowing those experiences to derail his ambitions, he says they strengthened his character and changed how he responds to adversity.
“It’s made me, ultimately, resilient. I’m strong minded and have strong character. Anything in the way is just a blur,” he said.
“I’m always going to be tunnel visioned on what my goal is. If I want something, I’m going to get it eventually.”
Reflecting on difficult spells at Newport, Bristol City and Sunderland, Semenyo acknowledged that there were times when his performances were below his own expectations and he struggled to secure a place in the team.
“I had a lot of phases at Newport, Bristol, Sunderland where I wasn’t playing so well and I was out of the team,” he explained.
“You need to be strong minded to get through those moments. If you’re not strong minded, you’ll fall,” he added.
For Semenyo, the journey from unsuccessful trials and a year away from football to competing at the highest level has reinforced the importance of persistence and self-belief.
His story is not one of overnight success. It is a progression marked by rejection, difficult adjustments, limited opportunities and the determination to keep going.
And as he continues his career at Manchester City, journaling remains one of the ways he keeps his ambitions in view, reflects on his development and prepares himself for the challenges still ahead.
