AFC Bournemouth have announced the signing of goalkeeper Alex Paulsen from Australian A-League side Wellington Phoenix.
The 21-year-old is expected to feature for New Zealand at the upcoming Olympics in Paris, having previously played for his country at both under-17 and under-23 level.
Paulsen has enjoyed somewhat of a breakout season in Australia, he was named in the Professional Footballers’ Australia team of the season for 2023/24, whilst at the Wellington Phoenix awards ceremony, he was named men’s players’ player of the year, members’ player of the year and members’ under-23 player of the year.
The Daily Echo have reported that “Liverpool and Chelsea were also reportedly interested in the stopper, but Cherries have got the deal done, for a fee said to be £850,000, which could rise to around £ 2 million.”
Paulsen told afcb.co.uk…
“I’m humbled to be considered worthy of signing with AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League.
“It means the world to me, my family and to my friends to be offered an opportunity to play in the best league on the planet, which most aspiring young footballers only dream of.”
What about #afcb appealed to you, Alex? pic.twitter.com/XHSwnx5ESD
— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) June 5, 2024
Your say…
canadiancherry said…
Who knows if Paulsen is the answer, but if we want to really punch above our weight we’ll eventually need an exceptional keeper.
I wonder how many points Martinez saved for Villa? They would not be where they are without him.
Liverpool was good, but couldn’t win the CL until they got Allison.
We have some top-level talent on the pitch (Dom, Semenyo, Christie, Zabarnyi, Kluivert, Cook, etc) but I don’t think anyone – either this season or the past several – would rank our goalkeeper as one of our better players.
This is a major problem for a team that is going to press high and give up chances. – To join the conversation, click here.
