Now he is the FA Cup final matchwinner for Manchester City and the great hope for Ghana to emulate their quarter-final finish in 2010, an instantly recognisable figure.
“Back then of course he was just a lad that’s turned up on loan from Bristol City and who’d been playing non-league not too long before,” says Wales midfielder Josh Sheehan, a Rodney Parade team-mate when Semenyo joined in 2018.
“You don’t tend to judge too much, you just think you’ll see what he’s like in training, and wonder if an 18-year-old is going to get a bit bullied in League Two.
“But, to be honest, he was just a different level. Strong, fast, ability, almost like a complete forward – you knew he was going to kick on and do something special.”
Flynn had already seen a sneak peak, taking all of five minutes to agree the loan after watching him in action having been trusted by Bristol City’s loan chief Brian Tinnion to help with his development.
“The problem we had is that we had two good, experienced strikers,” says Flynn, of Padraig Amond and Jamille Matt – both heroes of Newport’s giant-killing FA Cup run that season.
“But we just knew we had to get him in, so we used a new formation with him on the left.
“We just couldn’t leave him out.”
