An Evaluation of AFCB’s Most Expensive Purchases

Written by kirsikka

As new AFC Bournemouth owner Bill Foley looks to spend the big bucks, here’s a little look back at our most expensive-ever signings, fees as reported in EUR by Transfermarkt so take them with that in mind.

Hopefully, Bill knows that more money doesn’t always mean more quality when it comes to football players.

Jefferson Lerma
Fee: €30.5m
This is a hard one. As our record transfer paid by a margin, you would hope he was head and shoulders above everyone else. The last few weeks aside he’s always been committed and he’s undoubtedly a PL quality player but he’s never dominated in the way I suspect we were hoping when we signed him. A good player, but not a great one.

Value for money? No
Player rating: 7/10
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Nathan Ake
Fee: €22.8m
Like a Rolls Royce on a forecourt of family cars. He purred around the pitch and showed exactly the kind of extra class that Lerma never managed. If Covid hadn’t hammered the transfer market and coincided with relegation, I expect he would have gone for €10-20m more.

Value for money? Yes
Player rating: 10/10

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Dominic Solanke
Fee: €21.2m
Another tricky one. Was bought on potential to grow into a decent Premier League striker and replace Callum Wilson. Was too raw in our first PL spell and so far we haven’t really played to his strengths this season but he’s shown he’s a far better player now than he was then. However, it’s a big fee for a top Championship striker, which is what he’s shown so far. We didn’t sign him to score in the second tier. There’s still time for it to change though.

Value for money? No
Player rating: 6/10

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Jordon Ibe
Fee: €18m
The one that Eddie couldn’t give up on. By player accounts, was incredible in training. Only managed a couple of decent performances for us and left a wasted career behind. Now 27 and should be in the absolute prime of his career but unable to get a game at a second-tier Turkish team.

Value for money? No
Player rating: 0/10

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Philip Billing
Fee: €16.5m
The languid style often means his work rate isn’t noted but does have matches when he disappears. Like Solanke wasn’t bought to get us promoted but was also crucial in the second tier. If feels like when he does well, we do well. Maybe our priority should be making sure he’s playing the right role in the team and feeling good about himself.

Value for money? Yes
Player rating: 7/10

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Arnaut Danjuma
Fee: €16.46m
If only he’d been properly fit and on his game in that first season, history would be very different. His quality shone through the next season when he was unplayable enough that a Champions League club came in for him.

Value for money? Yes
Player rating: 8/10

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Marcos Senesi
Fee: €15m
Early days. Has shown some good quality but, understandably, has also struggled to immediately adapt to the English game. Hopefully, he continues to settle in and becomes a stalwart of our defence.
Value for money? Too soon to judge
Player rating: Too soon to judge

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Diego Rico
Fee: €15m
The fact that we still weren’t sure of his best position by the time he left tells its own story. Never quite settled into the team. Never really nailed down that spot as completely his own. He was ok, but for a signing that ranks as one of our most expensive, it was somehow slightly disappointing.
Value for money? No
Player rating: 4/10

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Lloyd Kelly
Fee: €14.8m
Like Danjuma, you wonder what may have been if his first season hadn’t been so disrupted by injury. Pace to burn but, at 24, still a way from the finished article. Similar to Solanke. he faces a career that could go two ways. Will always have a place in the second tier but make some strides in his game and a top-half PL career could still be possible. Maybe.
Value for money? Yes
Player rating: 6/10

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Chris Mepham
Fee: €13.6m
Should change his name to Lazarus. Wasn’t even a first-choice Centre Back in the second tier and also had a ‘mare in the play offs that sticks in the memory. It felt like he was on his way out. Yet, our inability to recruit in the summer opened the door and may well have been our player of the season so far. Here’s hoping it isn’t a McQuoid-style purple patch because the pre-Xmas spell has, for now, completely changed the narrative around him. Rating is still fairly low until we see more.
Value for money? Yes
Player rating: 6/10

And yes, I know I’ve got all the player evaluations and scores wrong. It’s an outrage that a subjective list should do that.

Your say…

Neil Dawson wrote…

Interesting and subjective!

Are you sure Rico was 15m? Thought he was closer to 10m but may be wrong!

You can look at these things a few ways but can’t agree Solanke is a lower score than Phil Billing. Solanke looked like a flop but ultimately fired us back to a promotion worth ten times the fee we paid for him. As a return on investments goes people would snap their hands off for that in any other walk of life.

The rest I broadly agree with. – To join the conversation, click here.