Who was that lad Bournemouth sold to Manchester City recently? Antoine somebody or other. What was it now? Oh yes, Semenyo, that’s the one. Who needs him around these parts when they have a new Brazilian teenage sensation to thrill them?
Rayan, making only his first start since a £25m move from Vasco da Gama in the Brazilian leagues, buried a stunning equaliser to earn a point for the Cherries in a breathless encounter against Aston Villa, and it should really have been more.
The 19-year-old hit the bar with an earlier header before Villa keeper Emi Martinez twice denied Ryan Christie late on to keep things level, two of 20 shots that rained down on his goal.
Semen-who?
It’s early days, of course, but you get the sense that Bournemouth might just have done it again. A side that lost three-quarters of their first-choice backline in the summer then made their best-ever start to a Premier League season.
When they sold Dominic Solanke a year earlier, Evanlison stepped up. They’ve just sold Semenyo, their main source of goals, for more than £60million and here’s his replacement, an unknown teenager, to step in for less than half the price.
An assist in his first game last week and now a goal here, driving at a lifeless Lucas Digne before rifling his shot past Martinez.
Bournemouth look to have unearthed another gem in £24.7million man Rayan, who is 19
He notched an assist in his first outing and a goal on his first start here to show he can replace Antoine Semenyo
Villa wobble continues
By contrast, Villa offered little other than a decent patch in the first half when Morgan Rogers rifled home the opener after good link-up with Jadon Sancho.
Unai Emery’s side, struggling with a midfield injury crisis, looked laboured and every inch a side that’s won just one of their last five league games and now have Manchester United and Chelsea coming into sharp focus in the rear-view mirror.
For all the rough-and-tumble of Douglas Luiz and Amadou Onana, the latter who made some crucial blocks, they missed the precision of Youri Tielemans.
Ollie Watkins barely had a sniff either, starting instead of Tammy Abraham, with just one touch in the box and a tap in that was ruled out for a clear offside after mistiming his run.
Aston Villa offered little but Morgan Rogers got on the scoresheet again to show his quality
Junior Senior
Time and again, Bournemouth looked to expose Villa’s high line with balls in behind and over the top and no one came so close to capitalising as another teenage star in Junior Kroupi, who produced another scintillating display.
Twice he raced away and lobbed the onrushing Martinez only for his first effort to be hooked off the line by Evri Konsa, then flagged for a narrow offside, before his second found the net but was ruled out.
With Rayan alongside him, there’s a lot for Bournemouth to get excited about – they just need to find a way to turn these performances into wins.
No winners in Elliott saga
After his 13-minute cameo against Brentford, Harvey Elliott was nowhere to be seen. Emery is refusing to play the Liverpool loanee because of the clause in the midfielder’s deal that means if he makes 10 appearances, Villa have to sign him for £35million in the summer.
Emery wants to play him, doesn’t want to sign him, and now wants Liverpool to remove the obligation to buy him in the summer.
Harvey Elliott was nowhere to be seen (pictured in January) – he is a helpless 22-year-old being used as a bargaining chip between Aston Villa and Liverpool
Villa agreed to the deal in the first place. Liverpool are now losing value on a player they won’t get £35m for if he doesn’t play again all season but who they perhaps don’t want to see playing for a top-four rival, one that now wants to go back on a deal they signed.
So there remains a standoff where everyone is losing out, no one more so than a helpless 22-year-old whose career is being used as a bargaining chip in a financial power struggle.
When you see players treated this way, you can perhaps understand why the likes of Alexander Isak play hard ball to force their own futures when they have the chance.
