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

AFCB are cracking deals early

The Cherries might be Premier League novices but they are playing the transfer market like old hands at the moment. The free transfers just keep on coming. While Sylvain Distin and Luke Garbutt are the latest player to agree to join the Cherries, I am starting to wonder where AFCB are going to keep all these new players and if the changing rooms are big enough!

The bonus of signing so many players may be that it gives Eddie a bit of time to have all the players together for a  few sessions before deciding finally on which players he is prepared to let go out on loan. I can't believe that the club thought that they would manage to bring in six players in under two months of the calibre they have now and mainly on free transfers. It keeps the books in good order and may yet enable AFCB to go after one or two more highly prized names towards the end of the window. Demarai Gray looks to be among those.

AFCB's starting 11 is going to include some new faces next season

I'm really impressed with the Distin signing as he has nothing to prove having had a great career. Yet, he still believes he can add a great deal to the squad and I have no doubt that Eddie has made him feel really wanted to get him to sign. The progress that AFCB has made though in the last few seasons must be a big incentive to sign for the club. With Distin and Atsu at the club now it seems that Luke Garbutt has the chance to also come to the Cherries on a season-long loan and feel that he could fit in quickly with a couple of former teammates already at AFC Bournemouth.

All Departments' latest podcast is out - Fan Tactics. I'll be posting on the sidebar of Cherry Chimes later but keep checking the All Departments' website for its release by Michael Dunne. Tom Payne explains how he analyses teams like AFCB on Spielverlagerung.

Luke Garbutt: competition for Daniels?

Those that have been tracing the football back pages for the latest AFCB possible targets should have come across the name of Luke Garbutt by now. The Everton and England U21 international has attracted interest from Liverpool, but if Roberto Martinez has his way the young defender will stay with Everton but is likely to be loaned out to AFCB, according to the Daily Star.

The establish Leyton Baines does not give that many opportunities for Garbutt to play in the top flight and a move to the south coast for a year could give him the kind of platform he needs to be a regular at Goodison. That means that he'll have to try and shift Charlie Daniels from his position at left back and while Ian Harte found that difficult to do last season, a fresh 22-year-old is the kind of prospect that should really give Charlie strong and direct competition. While the versatile Adam Smith has filled in on occasion as a left back, I prefer to see him on the right as a backup for Simon Francis. 

Who will be competing with Charlie Daniels at left back next season? 

While we have not seen many loan players at the club it seems that Eddie is prepared to add players on loan for this coming season. That keeps the transfer costs down and perhaps enables the club to get a few better players than they might otherwise for a high outlay. Garbutt is coming to the end of his contract though this summer and he could even consider a permanent move to the south coast. The potential for him playing for Liverpool is perhaps good from the point of view that he stays in Merseyside, but a new challenge at a club that is rising in talent, creativity and with a hungry young manager just might be hard for Luke Garbutt to resist.

There is not a long list of left backs and AFCB and Luke might fancy his chances of slotting into this team. He only made four appearances for the Toffees in the Premier League last season and while the Europa League will have been good experience for him it will be week-in, week-out football that he'll be after. Eddie Howe will need another left back after not renewing Ian Harte's contract and while Kieran Trippier has chosen to sign for Burnley, Garbutt is a signature that AFCB seem to be chasing hard for now.

Looking at the start of next season, Premier Talk spies that Micah Richards is back in favour - at least for Aston Villa.

Cherries still targeting young British-based players

With the links that AFCB have through Sean O'Driscoll at the FA with the U19s it is perhaps no surprise that Bournemouth are very interested in bringing more young English Internationals to the club. The thought of bringing in players like Luke Garbutt is refreshing and while Dwight Gayle has not yet been capped, he is another Premier League player who has many years to play, being just 25, and AFCB are not just looking at the usual players that tend to get a move at the end of a Premier League season having failed with their clubs and looking to stay in the top flight. 

I am surprised that Crystal Palace might listen to offers for Gayle but if they have other targets then the money would allow Palace to make a move for someone else. Some 12 goals in 48 appearances is not that bad in the Premier League and a price of £6m will probably tempt a few clubs.

Baily may yet get some more young England internationals joining him at AFCB.

The pace of the transfers should start to pick up now that the season has finished apart from the FA Cup. There is pressure to get players in so that they can be involved in the pre-season training camps and the competition for players has just increased with Norwich City now getting promoted.

We have also seen that Bournemouth are allegedly chasing Kieran Trippier (24) at Burnley and are said to be up against Spurs for his signature. Trippier has also played for the U21s and would be another signing that is coming into his best years. The pull of Spurs may be greater than a reunion with Eddie Howe and Jason Tindall, but we will see.

The pleasing aspect is that AFCB is being linked with players that have something to prove and are not past their sell by date. If a strong young squad can be built at Bournemouth then the potential to grow as a club will really take hold quickly.

This summer will see a lot of English young players involved in the U20s and U21s both involved in tournaments and the teams are said to have some of the best chances they have had in a long time to do well. That will include our own Baily Cargill playing for the U20s in Toulon and I'll be hoping that he impresses.

On Tuesday it was confirmed, however, that AFCB had signed Polish keeper Artur Boruc and there was talk of a second keeper, Australian Federici from Reading FC is also about to sign for the Cherries. SkySports has also linked 23-year-old Ghanaian winger Christian Atsu with a season long loan to AFCB from Chelsea. So 'British-based' players is perhaps more the way AFCB will build its squad for the Premier League.

Good luck to Shaun MacDonald who hopes to put a Welsh shirt on during the European qualifier with Belgium in 12th June.

Could Albanian left back be Harte's replacement?

Eddie Howe is going to have to find another left back to fit into the squad now that Ian Harte has been released. There are many aspiring British left backs that Bournemouth could seek out now that they have money to spend in the Premier League. Upcoming Championship stars include Tyrone Mings at Ipswich, Jake Bidwell at Brentford and Declan John at Cardiff, but what of Bournemouth's scouting overseas? 

The search to replace Ian Harte is on.

Eddie Howe was in Italy last week at Empoli FC and I was interested to see that on their books is a young 21-year-old called Elseid Hysaj who has been talked about as one of the best young players in Italy at the moment. He has now made more than 100 caps for the Serie A side and has amassed 11 caps for Albania. Priced at around £3m, he would be a valuable addition to the Cherries who need to push Charlie Daniels in the left back position.

The Empoli FC full back is cool under pressure when going forward and scores some great goals himself as you can see in this YouTube clip where he scores the second goal. A plus point for Elseid is that he can play at both right and left back and he is well known for his short passing which fits into AFCB's style of play. His contract at Empoli is said to run out in 2016.

Okay, Albanian Serie A players might be just a bit optimistic but at least the club has more ability to look further than just the home leagues now. Eddie Howe has long stated that he wants to buy British but the cost of some of the players he may want could force him to look abroad, and while language could be a problem for many foreign players coming to the club, there is no doubt that AFCB are looking for quality players in the top flight. Current favourite to come in at left back is probably Everton's Luke Garbutt but AFCB face competition from Swansea and Watford.

How much the club spends though is also being kept very quiet and while we saw AFCB make a £5 million pound bid last January for Demari Gray, anything over £3 million would be a record signing for the Cherries in the summer. There may still be some bargains about though. The Premier League release list comes out soon. Last season AFCB brought in Dan Gosling and Junior Stanislas on frees - watch this space! 

The Championship Run-In sees Norwich book their place in the Premier League.

Life at the top could be slightly Italian for the Cherries

I'd like to think that not much will change for the players and the coaching that Eddie Howe gives the team. Already though Eddie is looking to pick up new ideas and has been mixing with Maurizio Sarri with Empoli in Italy, which can't hurt and he might even be watching some players while he is out there. Empoli take on the giants of Juventas, Inter Milan and Napoli every week in Seire A so there could be very good advice at hand to know how AFCB can get points against the likes of Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea. They were only promoted to Serie A last season having been runners up in Serie B, but play entertaining football. I can't help but believe that pooling knowledge from top European coaches is something that more managers should do and any advantage that AFCB can take into the new season is going to be worth millions if the team can stay up.

AFCB will be looking to raise standards higher in the Premier League.

The direction of the play is one thing and it may be that taking on better teams does have major consequences for AFCB. If there is one aspect of the game that stands out for me in the Premier League compared to the Championship it is the quality of strikes from free kicks and the amount of goals from corners. The set-piece is something that the Cherries are going to have to get better at defending against and some Italian methods in that respect may well be what Eddie Howe is currently looking at. Hopefully, we'll hear very soon about whether Artur Boruc is to be the first line of defence in the team for next season. 

Life in the Premier League is no longer a distant dream, it is real and it is here. The job just got much harder for everyone at AFCB. Being prepared is what is now the priority and as well as the addition of some new players (the latest rumours centre on Kieran Trippier of Burnley and Everton youngster Luke Garbutt), the team has to be comfortable in knowing what it faces in the next few months. When the players come back to train they need to be on it from the moment they start training and attention to details is going to be vitally important. I know that AFCB could not have more capable people than Eddie Howe and Jason Tindall to lead the team in this exercise and while the Premier League may have arrived sooner than many of us expected everyone has to adapt to it fast now.

As fans we can enjoy the ride and pause to take it all in. It must be like a whirlwind for those on the inside at the club. The season ticket sales and the fixtures are just the start of it. New shirts, new advertisers and media pressures are going to stretch everyone, but the club is already showing how it wants to remain helpful and friendly to fans that have questions and only want the best for the club. There are, for example, some great questions from fans about season tickets and answers from from the club up on the official AFC Bournemouth website.

I do expect to see an even more professional AFCB though. The expectations on everyone to raise their game is higher and with the world looking on I just know that they will all make us very proud in the Premier League. UTCIAD!