Bournemouth's first summer signing expected to come from Spain

Rodrigo Riquelme, 20, of Atletico Madrid is expected to be Bournemouth's first summer signing, according to reports from Football Insider. The winger's signature was also contested by Reading and Celtic, but the Cherries looked to have won their man and will add firepower to their squad for the first time since signing Harold Wilson on loan last season.

AFCB look to line up a signing or two before the window shuts

Jason Tindall has promised he wants two or three signings and there may well be news of more movements in the market before the window shuts in a few day's time. It is refreshing to speak about a new signing, but arguably Bournemouth are more in need of another central defender and striker than a winger. 

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The signing of winger may mean that Josh King or David Brooks could be on their way, but the Manchester Evening News is now reporting that there is a change in stance on David Brooks and that Man Utd won't make a bid for the Welsh international in this window.

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I don't believe that Bournemouth has found it at all easy to do deals this window, and they are probably at least a couple or more players down on what they had hoped to bring in. There is still time to salvage the situation, but some of the targeted signings have certainly escaped. The worry is that Bournemouth could be hit with two or three bids that come in for their remaining star players in the last 24 hours of the window. That could radically change the chances for AFCB mounting a promotion bid this season. 

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While several U21s have shown they can play at Championship level, my hope is that Bournemouth's recruitment is really focussed on getting a few other players in during January to ensure Bournemouth are as strong as they can be to keep among the front runners for promotion.

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Out of favour Ibe will soon be on his way

It has been a very unsuccessful last few years for Jordan Ie at Bournemouth. I always felt he had the talent to be a steady Premier League player, but he lost his focus and is now on the scrap heap as far as his club is concerned with no way back, and only a one way ticket out of Bournemouth, since he crashed his Bentley in a London cafe.

Jordan may go north of the border when his contract ends.

The traumas of Jordan Ibe should be coming to an end very soon, as Bournemouth look to dispense with his services this summer as his contract runs out. It has been a big fall from being the club's record signing at one point, to not even being considered for squads in the Premier League. At present, Celtic seem to be making the most noise about wanting to take the former Liverpool winger as long as he can take a £40k weekly pay cut. Ibe has been pocketing far too good a salary at the Cherries for too long, and it will be a huge saving just to see him go now.

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Why it all went wrong is something only Jordan can reply to. It seems madness that when a player has a chance to make a name in the Premier League that they can throw it all away so easily, but Jordan is not the first and there will be many more. Perhaps he didn't find it easy to settle in Bournemouth, but he also found it hard at Liverpool. Whoever does go for Ibe will be taking a gamble, but I still see that there is a very good footballer in him if someone can bring it out of him.

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While Ibe has been doing his bit in playing for the U21s, he has suffered his time enough at AFCB and I wish him all the best in his next opportunity. But opportunities will be running out fast for him, and I hope he values what comes next as it's probably his last chance to win over a club that is offering him a step back up.

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Everton price Cherries out of the market for left-back

Brendan Rodgers is bracing himself for a £25m bid from Everton, according to the Daily Telegraph, for left-back Kieran Tierney at Celtic, who has been a suggested target for Eddie Howe this summer. Bournemouth though will have been blown out of the water with the bid that Everton is putting together for the player.

AFCB would have to smash their transfer record to sign Kieran Tierney.

Marco Silva has to make an impression at his new club and he seems set on making the signing happen. It is not clear how much AFCB were prepared to put up for the player, but seeing as AFCB's record signing is £20m at the present, it appears that the Cherries would have to smash that kind of price to sign Tierney. This may be one transfer that is just too hot for the Cherries now that Everton are also in the shop window for the player.

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Bournemouth are still second favourites to capture the 21-year-old but their odds were slipping away on SKYBet after Everton were linked with the full-back. Whether AFCB can try and offer a player swap as part of any deal may be the only way they could take on Everton's bid for the player. But n such circumstances AFCB would have to offer something that Brendan Rodgers would be relishing to have at Celtic Park and the only carrot I can see that would excite him and fans is Jermain Defoe.

AFCB are perhaps not looking to see Defoe go out on loan, seeing as he played little football last season for the Cherries and Rangers have already made little impact in their attempts to sign the striker on loan.

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Howe seems to have accepted that recruitment at AFCB is not going to be an exact science, even if the best possible considerations are made to try and limit the risks before players are bid for. 

Meanwhile, Emerson Hyndman may still play extremely well for a team like Wigan as he did at Rangers, but if he doesn't fit in well enough to the Bournemouth way of playing it's best to see if he can enjoy his career elsewhere and perhaps get a permanent move away or acquire the kind of qualities that Howe wants at AFCB.

Hyndman was a big player for Fulham before he signed for the Cherries, so it seems hard on him that he is now trying to recover that playing career back in the Championship while Fulham are no going to be battling with AFCB in the Premier League. I wish Hyndman all the best, but I do want future signings to fair better if they come to AFCB. Can I get excited about the potential signing of David Brooks? Not really, until I see whether he is capable of making the grade. Unfortunately, it seems Hyndman has not made the grade so far.

In other news, Bournemouth striker Mikael Ndjoli could be set to join Scottish Premiership side Kilmarnock on loan.


AFCB have completed their first signing of the summer with David Brooks signing from Sheffield United.
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Who do you want the Cherries to face in pre-season?

The task of planning for next season has already begun with the release of seven squad players already but attention will soon turn to a summer training camp and a line up of friendlies before the new season kicks off. While it would be great to play one or two Premier League sides before the August date with destiny, it is going to be difficult to arrange such games when most of the Premier League go on the Far East, American or Middle East tours. I wonder if AFCB might even entertain the idea of a pre-season tournament as the best way to play a few top sides?

Of course AFCB don't have to play against Premier League opposition they could try and go a step further afield and see if they can get to take on the likes of a PSV Eindhoven, FC Basel, VFL Wolfsburg, Schalke 04, Napoli, Roma, Paris St-Germain, Monaco, or Athletico Madrid for example, but such prestige matches are only going to be effective if Eddie Howe can learn more about his players and they can benefit from the experience of going up against some of Europe's elite. Just as much planning will go into picking up fixtures against some of the local teams that annually like to see if they can get one over on the Cherries, and I like those games as the competition is friendly and yet usually a good price  to see, while you often see a few new recruits fitting into the team. The Development Squad also needs plenty of fixtures so there is a lot of work to do at the club at the moment.

Ronaldo might not be coming to Dean Court this
 pre-season but there might be some other big players
and European teams that would fit the bill.

Last season AFCB might not have had the likes of Real Madrid to warm up against, but looking at how the European club competitions have gone this season it would not be such a bad idea to see what some of the continental sides are like. The training camp last season was fairly relaxed and not a bad run out against the likes of FC Copenhagen. As recently as last April the team also enjoyed the facilities out in Dubai and I wonder if an excursion to Africa might be a destination the club would like to try soon. It is hard to imagine AFCB as a global brand but that is the next step of the club's progression. Last pre-season there was talk of Rangers coming down but perhaps Celtic would be a good option for the Cherries now.

Getting fit and enjoying playing as a team is what really counts though no matter who the opposition. Hitting form in early August will be the aim and preparation is something that Eddie and his coaching team have a knack of getting right. Lots of fun but hard work, I believe is the ethos. 

Who would you like AFCB to play pre-season? Leave a comment below.