Bristol City coach wants to keep Black Stars striker Antoine Semenyo

Bristol City coach Nigel Pearson has revealed that he will like to keep Black Stars striker despite interest from several clubs.

Antoine Semenyo made his Ghana debut on Wednesday, coming on as a 76th-minute substitute in the 3-0 victory over Madagascar at the Cape Coast Stadium.

Semenyo was exceptional for Bristol City last season, scoring eight goals and providing 12 assists in 31 Championship games, making him one of the most wanted players outside of the division.

According to reports Scottish champions Celtic are interested in signing the explosive striker this summer.

"I don’t spend too much time worrying about that. I think we will, in time, have decisions to make on him but hopefully he’ll be here this year," Nigel told BBC Bristol.

“Would I stand in his way of going to top a Premier League side? Absolutely not. But it would have to be the right deal for us, as a team. As a football club, the financial offset for losing someone like Antoine is going to be considerable and people need to be aware of that,"

“We don’t want to be a selling club, we want to keep our best player, of course we do, but the reality of where we are is there are times when that stance will be stretched and it will be questioned, and what we have to do is make the right decision for us as a football club,"

"We’ll have a better chance of succeeding next year if Antoine is here.“But if he goes somewhere he’s going to be expensive for somebody,” he concluded.