Wednesday 26 June 2019

What should we expect from Welsh winger next season?

The first season David Brooks has had at Bournemouth more than covered his £12m transfer fee from Sheffield United. It may have been that move that helped Sheffield get to the Premier League, but I bet they wish they had been able to keep hold of him for a bit longer. As the beneficiaries of David Brooks, AFCB may have a fight on to keep hold of him, but I expect it to be another year of development with AFCB for Brooks before we see his star rise even higher.
David Brooks is wanted by the likes of Man Utd and Tottenham but AFCB
will do everything to make sure he plays at Dean Court for  some years to come.
It is hard to believe that Brooks is only 21. He has a great opportunity to become one of the star players in the Premier League, and if he can take his game another step forward it could be a huge help for the Cherries in their bid to become a top 10 team again. For that to happen I'd like to see Brooks see that he is surrounded by other players that can also take the team further. While transfers have been slow to emerge, there is the return of Lewis Cook to look forward to, and I expect it will help Brooks to see another young international looking to become a bigger name at AFCB.

But arguably it will be competition for Brooks' position that will be the spur to really push Brooks on. I had expected to see Connor Mahoney play for AFCB in August rather than be loaned out, but the Daily Mail is saying that he is being sold to Millwall. So Stanislas is likely to be the other player to test Brooks for his starting place. But Jordan Ibe we hear could be leaving. It is perhaps not enough to really keep Brooks on edge and he may have to set his own personal targets to take his game on.


Scoring goals came fairly easily early on last season for Brooks, but he did start to slow down in the second half of the season. Whether he feels he can make more assists and score more goal will ultimately determine his season to most fans, but because AFCB have a clear problem in keeping teams out I'd also like him to keep working at his defensive game. I think Adam Smith could be a big help to him in this respect as Smith is perhaps a little stronger in his defensive game, but is also a player that is always very keen to get forward. It's knowing how to balance the decision making where I think Brooks still has room to develop, and if he can get the balance right we could find that the right wing is just as productive as Ryan Fraser on the left wing.

1 comment:

  1. The spur for brooks is to make him more attractive to the top six teams..neither ibe or stanislaus will challenge him forca place...he needs however to stay fully fit

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