Is it Ritchie's time to shine?

With the loss of Lewis Grabban, AFCB will be looking to other players to fill the gap in 2014/15. I believe that Matt Ritchie has more than another gear to hit in the Championship and could be the club's most influential player next season. Matt scored 9 goals last season and considering that he missed a lot of games he just might be the man to push on and drive the team on to greater success.

Matt has the skill to be a man that can win games almost on his own.

Ritchie at Millwall before the last game of last season.

Matt topped the midfielder goalscorers foe AFCB last season. 

For me, Matt is one of the most talented players in the squad and I don't believe he has reached his full potential yet. At 24 Matt is one of the young members of the squad, but he is already one of the players that the Cherries look to as a player who might be able to do something special in a game. At Swindon he expressed similar abilities to be a player that impressed his signature on the team and while Grabban, Cook and O'Kane were the strong lights last season in my opinion, it is all set up for Ritchie to take more of the limelight now.

It won't be easy. There is the young Mr Fraser on the other wing who is growing by the game and the arrival of Dan Gosling highlights another potential candidate to perhaps be the guiding influence. But Ritchie is familiar now with the club and Eddie Howe's methods and his aim now has to be to make as big an impact as he can for the team. Having already been the top scoring midfield player last season for AFCB he has the ammunition to fill a star role and with a good pre-season behind him he could be the player that the Cherries are looking to hold of more than most come next summer.

World Cup Chimes previews the German machine v Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal.