The fact that Bournemouth didn't sign a central defender last summer was perhaps the only disappointment that could harm the team's progress to secure their passage to a top 10 finish. Chris Mapham of Brentford was the much rumoured target. But news from Fanatik of a failed £14m bid for World Cup star Damogoj Vida, 29, of Croatia and Besiktas is a major indication that Bournemouth were also in the market for an international central defender and it is a position that may be filled come January.
While Bournemouth might not wish to pay Besiktas' estimation of Vida, it just worth noting that other top six Premier League sides were targeting the Croatian last summer. But if Arsenal and Liverpool were lining up bids for £26m or more for the player, as the Evening Standard would suggest, were Bournemouth ever really in the race? What it does shows is that Bournemouth are looking to find defenders that are established players who are on the international stage, and perhaps Howe is also looking for a player that can give Nathan Aké a partner who just has more caps already under his belt and can give Nathan a good understanding of how he can improve his game.
Bournemouth have one of the highest home grown squads in the Premier League as the Bournemouth Echo pointed out a few days ago. AFCB have played three seasons in the top tier, but perhaps now is the time when AFCB are going to have to take their spending to a new level to improve the current team.
In other news, David Brooks played for 90 minutes for Wales in their 4-1 win over the Republic of Ireland.
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AFCB may up their game in January to see if they can find a similar defender to Vida who wants to come to the Premier League. While Howe has brought in experienced defenders before like Sylvan Distin and Ian Harte, it is only this summer that he has bought in from the Spanish league. While AFCB's search for players has been expanding wider than the domestic leagues, it has not been that often that AFCB have been connected with the Turkish league. This could have been just because of the World Cup year, but it will be quite a turnaround if Howe is now thinking that AFCB need to buy foreign to get to the next level.
Bournemouth have one of the highest home grown squads in the Premier League as the Bournemouth Echo pointed out a few days ago. AFCB have played three seasons in the top tier, but perhaps now is the time when AFCB are going to have to take their spending to a new level to improve the current team.
In other news, David Brooks played for 90 minutes for Wales in their 4-1 win over the Republic of Ireland.
The media stories about us chasing Vida were probably just that... 'stories'. Or as the club would say, "wide of the mark". Multi-million pound 29 year old foreign players are what those 'other' clubs buy... but we do it differently! Mepham is a very talented player he has the potential to be another 'John Stones' and is the of the age and £10-20 million price bracket that does fit our profile, imo it's just a matter of time and negotiation, possibly in January... but if not then next summer, before he arrives.
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