Saul Isaksson-Hurst is an experienced coach who has worked with Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur academies for a decade before embarking on his own player performance app, where he trains and develops footballers from grassroots to professional level.
One of his clients, Antoine Semenyo, is stealing all the headlines in the current campaign after dazzling in all the games he has played so far in the English Premier League, where he has scored six goal and provided three assists.
Mirror Sport sat down with Semenyo’s personal trainer in an interview where he disclosed that the Ghanaian is a top-notch footballer and deserves to be playing in the world’s best competitive club competition, the UEFA Champions League.
“He’s unbelievable”, Isaksson-Hurst said. He’s a Champions League player and was unlucky not to get a move in the summer, but it’s a matter of time before he goes to a big club. There was interest. He’s one of the most electric players in the Premier League at the moment. So there’s no ceiling.
Clubs like Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Manchester United were all linked with the gifted Ghanaian forward in the 2025 summer transfer window, but a deal was not reached, and he subsequently stayed at Bournemouth
“If you can dominate the Premier League, you can dominate any league. He could play for any of the big clubs and make an impact,” he continued. The trainer believes Semenyo can dominate every league in the world because whoever dominates the English Premier League can dominate any other league.
“I said to him straight away – ‘You should be playing Champions League football. That’s got to be the initial target”, he said. The former Bristol City striker is yet to make a single appearance in the UCL, and Hurst believes the time is up for the 25-year-old to announce his presence in the competition.
When asked how Semenyo will get the opportunity to compete in the UCL, the coach said, “How’s he going to do that? You’ve got to be one of the best players at Bournemouth and help them have a really successful season, and ideally be one of the highest for goals and assists in your team and in the league, which will give you the platform to do that. It’s a natural progression”, he revealed.
“That resilience to work hard. That’s one of the reasons he contacted me. He understands that he needs to keep going, that he hasn’t arrived. He wants to be the best player he can be, to keep working on his craft. A lot of footballers approach me, but very few are willing to do this stuff regularly and go the extra mile,” Saul Hurst added.
Footballers like Fulham’s Cyrus Christie and Norwich City’s Max Aarons are professionals who have recently worked with him, but many others have found it difficult to continue after making the initial contacts.
“It’s difficult, a bit like [Eberechi] Eze, everyone has got a different journey and progresses differently,” Issakson-Hurst said.
Arsenal’s Eze and Bournemouth’s Semenyo have something in common: the two are late bloomers and needed to fight really hard to reach the top level.
“It’s pretty unprecedented to not have any academy football and work your way up,” he said of Semenyo. “People who support my sessions come up to me and say, ‘Wow, this guy is box office.’ Semenyo’s trajectory does not include any academy at a very young age, as he only got the opportunity at Bristol City’s academy in 2017 after many rejections by numerous clubs.
“He’s so dynamic and explosive with the ball; that’s the difference. He can drive with the ball and strike with both feet. He has an unorthodox shooting technique where he almost ‘knuckleballs’ it – I’ve never seen someone who can do that with both feet with such consistency, particularly someone who hasn’t played academy football. It’s something he’s developed himself.” Saul Isaksson-Hurst waxed lyrical about Semenyo and believes the Ghanaian’s quality is exceptional.
Semenyo contacted Isaksson-Hurst at the beginning of the 2025 summer and initially trained with the specialist technical coach while vacationing in the south of France, followed by more intensive sessions in London before the pre-season.
Per multiple sources, the trainer charges around 200 pounds per hour for a training session. Parents pay over 600 pounds for their kids in a month for training at Saul’s camp.
Bournemouth will expect bids from the big clubs in the 2026 summer after failing to entertain some in the just-ended transfer window.
