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 period and despite Semenyo’s close-range back-heel in the 75th minute, Brentford’s number seven claimed his second hat-trick for the club in stoppage time when he steered home Mikkel Damsgaard’s cross.

Keith Andrews hailed the forward, saying: “Yeah really pleased and one I feel Kevin deserves.

“He works tirelessly for the team and it’s an attribute that we insist on for our attacking players that they have to run back as quickly as they run forward.

“He is a constant threat and I feel like in the last couple of weeks he’s been starting to get into really good positions and getting really, really close. Today was a really nice hat-trick, right foot, left foot and header. It doesn’t get more complete than that.

“Yeah, a good win. A good performance. Two different halves and first half I thought we were sensational.”

Iraola’s assessment was more focused on Bournemouth, who last tasted success in the Premier League back on October 26.

“I think it is quite easy to analyse today. We arrived 45 minutes late to a Premier League game and normally when this happens, you are out of the game,” Iraola said.