Cherries MLS bound for summer training

The Vitals website was able to give Bournemouth fans a heads up on Philadelphia being the summer camp destination for the Cherries this year. While Salisbury FC of the Wessex League are also said to be on the itinerary on Tuesday 21 July it is the pull of the US that intrigues me. Philadelphia Union are the East Coast MLS team that we'll probably get to know a little more about in the coming weeks even though their players might not be household names to us, barring Maurice Edu for those who already know he used to play for Stoke City.

AFCB seem to be heading for the USA this summer.

The MLS has really taken hold now and with the transfer of more British players to the league it is gaining more interest in the UK. The training facilities will be as good as anything in the UK for the Cherries and I suppose the weather will also be favourable, although it want be like LA for the players. Nick Sakiewicz, Philadelphia Union's CEO was present at the Bolton Wanderers game, so the discussions about the destination for Bournemouth's pre-season summer camp has been going on a while. Usually AFCB will want to play two or three games while on these training camps so it will be ears to the ground to see if any other North American sides are lined up to play the Cherries.

Links with the MLS are certainly growing. If you remember back in January AFCB had Darren Mattocks of the Vancouver White Caps on trial at the Cherries. The flow of players has been very much from Britain to USA, but the trend might start going the other way as the MLS improves and if young players are competitively priced and seek moves to the Premier League and Championship.

I have not heard any dates yet for the training camp, but I'll start putting up dates for friendly fixtures as they are announced. The Philadelphia Union pre-season fixture in the USA has now been confirmed for the 14 July at the PPL Park.

You should also see that we have started a new tab on Cherry Chimes called Premier Talk - West Ham is our first topic of comment.


Later this evening I'll be releasing the Cherry Chimes' June Newsletter which comments on the biggest stories from May on Cherry Chimes. We'll also have an article that is not on the blog - who is best to partner Callum Wilson?

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