Andoni Iraola wants to keep Antoine Semenyo at Bournemouth as long as possible

Andoni Iraola reiterated his desire to keep Bournemouth attacker Antoine Semenyo for as long as possible after a painful 4-1 loss at Brentford.

Semenyo scored his ninth goal of the campaign at Gtech Community Stadium but it was a mere consolation on an afternoon to forget for the Cherries as Kevin Schade’s hat-trick extended their winless run to nine games.

Speculation over Semenyo’s future has intensified in recent days with Manchester City reportedly keen to wrap up a deal immediately once the January transfer window opens, but Iraola hinted that he expects the winger to feature at Chelsea on Tuesday.

Asked if he would rather get the transfer fee for Semenyo early, Iraola disagreed: “No, the more games Antoine can play for us, (the better).

“If he can play years for us, it’s much better! If it cannot be years, it can be months. If he can only play weeks, it is weeks but the more time he plays with us, the better for us.

“Antoine’s situation is quite clear. Antoine is a massive player for us and even in games like today where probably he hasn’t played well, he is always a threat to score and assist.

“Obviously I don’t want to lose him. This is quite clear, but there are some situations that are not under my control. He will be available to play again in three days (versus Chelsea) and then the next one and I hope he plays a lot more with us.”

Semenyo’s goal was a rare positive for Bournemouth in west London with Brentford able to punish the visitors for a slow start.

Schade broke the deadlock in the seventh minute with a fine finish from Igor Thiago’s pass and a comical own goal by Cherries goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic gave the Bees a deserved two-goal lead at half-time.

Schade made it 3-0 six minutes into the second