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Semenyo might have signed for a Championship club but, still only 18 years old, he was immediately sent out on loan to non-league side Bath City.
Jerry Gill, their coach at the time, believes that step into men's football helped Semenyo become the physical player he is today.
"When he was playing with players of his own age he relied on the fact he would just be stronger than them - but when he came up against men he had to learn how to protect with his arm, shield the ball, spin and slide," said Gill.
Semenyo started as a striker but Gill moved him out wide and was impressed with his response to feedback.
"He was a sponge," said Gill. "He was accepted with the team - and that's not easy for a young lad coming on loan. His attitude had to be right and it was. He had that big smile on his face that you still see now."
Next came a loan move to League Two Newport County, for whom he scored three goals in 21 games across the first half of the 2018-19 season.
A couple of impressive FA Cup performances saw him heavily linked to Premier League side Chelsea - and prompted Bristol City to recall him.
Would this be Semenyo's moment to shine at a higher level? Not quite.
He was handed his first start by the play-off chasing Robins in March 2019 but was hooked before the hour mark with his team 1-0 down at home to Leeds.
A month later, with City trailing top-six rivals Derby, he was thrown on as a 33rd-minute substitute in search of an equaliser. They lost 2-0 - and Semenyo was sent off.
The false starts would continue - a relatively disappointing loan spell in League One with Sunderland the following season, managers coming and going at Ashton Gate and Semenyo failing to establish himself in the team.
It was the arrival of Nigel Pearson that seemed to change things.
Partly through choice and partly through necessity, with a wage bill badly in need of trimming, Pearson turned to youth. Semenyo, along with now Bournemouth midfielder Alex Scott, was front and central.
As one of the few experienced pros remaining at the club, ex-Bradford City Nahki Wells would become a mentor to Semenyo during that time and recalls "a young player who was raw but full of talent".
"I remember being that guy he came and had chats with. I was almost like a big brother," Wells told BBC Sport.
"There's nothing he didn't have. He had the pace, the ability and a skill level that was underappreciated at the time.
"It was very hard to stop that. It was like a puzzle and he was just putting his pieces together to become this article that he is today."
Something had clicked. In 2021-22 - eight goals and 12 assists. In 2022-23 - eight goals and two assists.
Premier League clubs came sniffing, with Southampton and Crystal Palace - the club that had rejected him six years prior - among those interested.
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