“I want to be like Asamoah Gyan,” says Antoine Semenyo of Bristol City

Antoine Semenyo of Bristol City is adamant that he wants to emulate former Black Stars captain Asamoah Gyan and improve on the latter’s record for Ghana in the future.

The 22-year-old Ghanaian striker admitted that as a young player, he idolized Ghana’s all-time leading scorer and the African footballer with the most World Cup goals.

Semenyo who is yet to represent Ghana at any level says he is hoping to be like Gyan.

“I would say Asamoah Gyan,” Semenyo said when quizzed on Happy FM about who from the Black Stars team influenced him.

“As a young boy watching Ghana, he was obviously the person everyone looked up to. He was the striker that scored the goals and as a young player for me, I also want to score goals as well so every time I watched him he scored goals and I was like, ‘I want to be like him.

“So I am aspiring to be like him and hopefully I can be better than him – that will come with time.”

Despite being approached by England to play for them, Semenyo believes it is only right for him to represent the country to which he belongs.

“England has come here and there but Ghana is where I belong,” he added.

“Those narratives [of black magic in the Black Stars] do not matter to me. I just want to play for Ghana and represent my home country.”

He is expected to be named by the technical team when the Black Stars begin their 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers late this month.

He was handed a Ghana call-up to play for the Black Stars by coach Otto Addo but got injured at the 11th hour as he missed the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup playoffs against the Super Eagles of Nigeria.