Manchester City reporter in Hong KongPublished9 minutes agoManchester City forward Antoine Semenyo has hailed new manager Enzo Maresca's style of play as "music to my ears" after showcasing early signs of his role under the Italian.
City were defeated on penalties by Inter Milan in Maresca's first game in charge in Hong Kong, but the side demonstrated the attacking intent the new boss will deploy after replacing Pep Guardiola.
Semenyo played the opening 45 minutes and gave Inter full-back Andy Diouf a torrid time with his pace and direct running, helping to set up Divine Mukasa's goal for City.
Substitute Ryan McAidoo also impressed and Maresca said afterwards they are the "kind of wingers I love" - ones that are "very aggressive" and take on their man in "one-v-one" situations".
Semenyo said: "When he got appointed, that was the first thing I thought about because when you've played Chelsea previously when he was there, his wide men were always high and quite free.
"So that was one of the things that excited me the most when he got appointed and it's exciting for me as a winger. I get to have one-v-one situations most of the game and I am looking forward to it.
"I have had individual meetings with him on how he wants to set up, how he wants to play his wide men and just overall as a team.
"I think his ideas are great, quite similar to Pep, but if you watched the [Inter] game, you would have seen a couple of his ideas play out and it was good. Enzo is just [stay] out wide and when you get the ball, just create opportunities. So it is music to my ears."
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The player says interest first came in early December with "a lot of talks" taking place, before he made the decision the following month that he wanted to join City.
"I owe them everything to be honest," Semenyo said of former club Bournemouth. "They helped my Premier League career flourish and obviously the management, the staff behind the scenes, they were all amazing, they made everything so smooth."
Semenyo scored a total of 21 goals for club and country last season, netting the winning goal in the FA Cup final win over Chelsea which he called a "dream come true", as well as lifting the Carabao Cup.
He added: "I think for me, I just wanted the next step to be the big one and Manchester City was the option. Pep spoke to me beforehand and he said, 'look, when you come, I am going to make you a better player'.
"You want to get better, you want to improve every season and he definitely helped me with that in the first five months, but obviously sad for him to leave."
Semenyo is a devout Christian and has faith-based tattoos etched across his body.
Last December, he was baptised by a local pastor, which was something he says he wanted to do "for so long" but was unable to because of his footballing schedule.
"I know that I am obviously walking with God at the moment, and I want to maximise my faith as much as I can, so practising gives me the opportunity to do that.
"When I got the opportunity, I made sure I took it. I am so happy I have done it and I am in the walk of faith now and it's been amazing."
Semenyo says he prays before games and at the hotel the night before a match alongside team-mates Jeremy Doku and Marc Guehi, which gives them "maximum strength".
Asked if he places his faith before his football, Semenyo replied: "Yeah, 100%. I wouldn't be here without him [God], so there is always going to be faith and football after.
"I think God gave me the talent to be a footballer, he gave me all the skills, he gave the mindset and the mentality, so I owe it to him to perform and maximise his words to the world."
