Expect some changes for AFCB in the cup

While it would be great if AFCB could play its first team in the match at St Andrews, the sad truth is that at this stage of the competition most managers will not put out their strongest sides. The FA Cup is a tournament that the club would love to do well in and the rewards of making it to the final rounds are clearly fabulous both for the players and the fans, but the competition is going to see Premier League managers protect their best players with the demands of the top league taking priority.

There is a chance for some game time for
many players that have been on the sidelines.

For AFCB that could still mean that one or two of his fist 11 are played to keep some continuity but I don't expect the starting 11 who turned out against Leicester to be highly represented at Birmingham. Adam Federici is a certain starter you'd think unless he is injured in midweek training and in front of him it is possible that Tommy Elphick could come back in to captain the side, especially with Simon Francis carrying out his one match suspension. My preference would be to see Baily Cargill get some minutes as well, but Sylvain Distin is perhaps more likely to partner Elphick at the back.

In midfield we could also see several changes with Lee Tomlin and perhaps Shaun MacDonald given rare starts. Eddie is likely to want to play a few of those who have been on the edge of the team, but if there is interest coming in for the likes of Yann Kermorgant that could also affect team selection. Yann also played well in midweek. Tokelo Rantie would of course return to the scene of one of his best performances for the Cherries and that could encourage the manager to play him.

Whether Juan Iturbe gets his work permit in time for this game is not known but I would not expect him to start, even if he does get clearance. Eddie would want to bring him in gradually and a heated cup tie might not be the best debut for him unless he could come on in the second half when some of the heat has already been taken out of the game.

It would be good to see some of the Development players that almost got to feature in the League Cup as well. Perhaps Jordan Lee or Matt Butcher could be included among the subs along with Jordan Green who travelled with the team to Chelsea a few weeks ago.

Competition
If you fancy predicting the score send your predictions in via twitter to @PeterBell19 and we'll have another go to give away the AFCB 2016 diary to someone who gets the score right. Send them in before 6pm on Friday for a chance to win. You must also follow me on Twitter. Best of luck!

Iturbe's loan is a sign of bigger things for AFCB

As anticipated in the last few weeks Juan Iturbe has joined AFCB on loan until the end of the season with an option to move permanently from AS Roma. Having played also for River Plate and Verona there is no doubting the splash that Juan's signing will make and the ripples that it will transmit to other clubs that the Cherries are very keen to stay in the Premier League.

Listing to the interview on HD Player, it is clear that Juan, 22, is himself nervous that the spotlight is on him and for him I hope the fans give him a great welcome and make him feel at home. While he cannot play this weekend (he still needs a work permit) it will be exciting to see him at Dean Court and how he will find it to play in Eddie Howe's team. The ending of Christian Atsu's loan has given a space for the new loan signing and it is good to hear that Juan felt it an easy decision to come to the south coast.

Eddie Howe has made it clear that he does not want to see players leave the club so we will see if this signing makes it even harder for other players to consider moves away from the Cherries. This kind of investment is going to be different to other signings as it is high profile and Juan is a player with the kind of potential that would attract many top clubs.

While Eddie Howe has gone for a mainly British looking squad, there will be a time when the squad undergoes a transformation. Serie A has always been good viewing for Eddie and having brought in Filippo Costa as well last summer, the Italian scouting is certainly coming up with the goods. While I like many fans want to see home talent also come through the Development Squad and Youth Academy it is going to take time for those systems to deliver. Premier League football does not stand still though and the Cherries have acted.  

Hopefully, Juan will enjoy his football at AFCB and will be able to make a valuable contribution. UTCIAD!

How did you rate AFCB's new signings?

Cherry Chimes had a poll running for the last few days on how fans viewed the new summer signings and who was most likely to have the best season. Out of the 71 votes cast a whopping 25 votes or 35 per cent of opinion backed record signing Tyrone Mings to be the most successful new signing next season. No surprise there perhaps as we all wish our record signing well.

Still that puts a lot of belief behind the young left back who will surely have a battle to win his place in the team as Charlie Daniels isn't just going to let Tyrone take his place. We have seen that Simon Francis has held off competition from Adam Smith for more than a season. Tyrone will have to be on top form to establish himself in the regular line up so perhaps that is why so many of you think he will succeed.

What I found more surprising is that Christian Atsu was predicted to be the next most successful signing. Christian again has to try and find a way into the team by trying to overtake Marc Pugh and Matt Ritchie. We have seen in video clips with Ghana that he surely has some talent, but he has not really performed at the same level for Everton. With 13 votes or 18 per cent of the vote though he came second in the poll.

The players that I thought might do a little better came in equal third. Sylvain Distin is likely to be the first man to turn to for Eddie Howe if either Steve Cook or Tommy Elphick have a stumbling block or an injury and yet he polled just nine votes or 12 per cent of the vote. I can see why fans don't think he'll be a regular starter, but I was shocked to see that Josh King did no better than Sylvain Distin. Josh King will probably be battling with Yann Kermorgant and Tokelo Rantie to try and get a starting spot and yet he also had only 12 per cent of the votes leaving me to wonder if fans feel that Yann Kermorgant is still the best player to play up front with Callum Wilson.

Some eight per cent of votes are still holding out for a big signing yet to come in and to blow away all the other summer signings. There is still time and yet Tyrone Mings stands alone as the major financial outlay this summer and it maybe that Eddie Howe decides to hold back to see how the team does with the possibility of buying more players in January. 

Artur Boruc received a solid six votes or eight per cent of the poll and while he could be very busy and could easily earn player of the season, fans seem to hope that he won't have so much to do in the Premier League. If AFCB are not in a relegation scrap he is less likely to be the man everyone thinks about when AFC Bournemouth are mentioned - let's hope that is the case. Adam Federici is down on one per cent in the voting. Unless Artur is injured early on it will probably be the cup games that give Adam his opportunities to play. Meanwhile, Filippo Costa and Jordan Green (who signed after the poll was created) will be Development Squad players and are unlikely to feature in the first team. 

Filippo Costa ready to sign for the Cherries?

While most of the media wondered who AFCB would sign at left back after it looks like the Luke Garbutt move has fallen through, there was a big rush on Tyrone Mings at Ipswich. At lunch time there was no further news on this, but see Breaking News (below) of AFCB's potential record new signing! 

It also looks like sensible money is on AFCB to sign another young 20-year-old  left back called Filippo Costa, who currently is at Italian side Chievo Verona, where he has been since 2012.

Last week the first reports of AFCB's interest in Filippo appeared at www.gianlucadimarzio.com and were also seen on The Continental Zone among other sites, but the English media seem to have been a bit slow on tracking this one. Eddie Howe appears to want some youth at left back and Filippo is seen as a talented prospect who was playing in the third tier of Italian football last season, on loan at AC Pisa where he scored four goals in 26 appearances last season.

The young left back is estimated to have a price-tag of £200,000 according to Football Italia. Filippo is an Italian U20 international player. Italian side Atlanta were also said to be interested in the player but AFCB are favourites now to sign him.

Breaking News:
Tyrone Mings is said to sign for the Cherries for £8 million - a new record for the club! Ryan Fraser is said to be going to Ipswich Town on a season long loan and Brett Pitman is also heading to Ipswich Town as a permanent signing. I'll have more thoughts on this later.

Update: Football League World is reporting that AFCB's bid for Mings has been rejected! But Sky Transfer Centre said at 8:12 that deal would be completed on Friday morning as long as Ryan Fraser passed his medical at Ipswich Town