Antoine Semenyo has a diary and a £65 million price tag. Only one of them is currently earning its keep.

City's January recruit from Bournemouth has been a lively presence since arriving, but the Ghana international's recent revelation about his pre-match routine has added a curious layer to his first year at the Etihad.

Semenyo journals. Not in a vague, wellness-app way — he writes down specific targets, then waits for them to happen.

"Every goal that I've written down so far has manifested," he said.

It started, as these things often do, with a notebook meant for something else entirely. "My mum got me a big book that was meant to be for homework but it became for random stuff," Semenyo explained. As a kid he filled it with whatever came to mind. As he got older, the habit narrowed. He began logging his days, his thoughts, the things rattling around his head.

"A lot of the time I was overthinking so it became a habit," he said. "When anything pops up, I write it down and come back to it to see it at a later stage."

The 26-year-old Londoner now uses it to map out his season — and beyond. "I manifest what I want for the season, for the years ahead and it's worked out well so far."

Numbers Tell a Different Story

Two goals and three assists in 10 outings across all competitions is a respectable return for a player settling into a new squad. It is not, however, the sort of tally that silences questions — especially after last week's 4-2 Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, where Semenyo's finishing drew scrutiny.

That performance arrived at an awkward moment. Enzo Maresca had already signalled that several of his regulars were running on empty, and the weekend trip to Ipswich Town forced his hand. Six changes to the starting XI followed. Erling Haaland scored twice. Phil Foden, back in the fold, got one that felt overdue. City won 3-2.

The result kept a remarkable run intact: seven Premier League wins from seven to start the campaign.

Semenyo's contribution to that start has been real but uneven. The journaling, he insists, helps. Whether it helps enough to turn neat entries into cold numbers is the question that matters now.

AEK Athens arrive at the Etihad on Tuesday night. Another page, another chance to write something down.