AFC Bournemouth goalkeeper Asmir Begovic has firmly established himself as the Cherries first-choice ‘keeper over the past 11 months.
Having previously lost his place in the side after a drop in form, Begovic found himself out on loan firstly in Azerbaijan with Qarabag, before spending a few months in Italy playing 128 minutes for Italian giants AC Milan.
Following relegation from the Premier League and the departure of Eddie Howe, Begovic, now 33-years-old found himself as number one for both Jason Tindall and Jonathan Woodgate for the club’s 2020/21 campaign in the Championship.
He rediscovered his lost form, playing 50 times for the club in all competitions, and averaged a whoscored rating of 6.76 in the Championship, his best rating for a league campaign since he made 17 appearances for Chelsea in the Premier League in 2015/16.
AFC Bournemouth would go on to finish sixth in the second tier of English football last season and miss out on promotion to the Premier League following defeat to Brentford in the play-offs. This despite the backdrop of three managers in less than a year on the south coast.
Speaking to the Mirror, Asmir Begovic was discussing the change of manager mid-season from Jason Tindall to Jonathan Woodgate and heaped praise on the former Real Madrid and England defender saying…
“…We hit a bad patch in January and it was difficult to see a manager lose his job for that reason, Jonathan comes in and all things considered, under the circumstances he took over in, I think he did a really good job.
“He’s a really good person first and foremost, obviously a young manager but not that you’d have known it.
“I think everyone in the dressing room really liked him and it would be good to see him be successful.”
Who do you want as AFCB manager?
Woodgate
Parker
Viera
Someone else
As he enters the final year of his contract at Dean Court, Begovic appears focused on the new season ahead adding…
“…I’ve got one year left (on his contract) and that’s my main focus to make sure I come back in shape and give this thing another really good go, contribute as much as possible, have another good season and hopefully as a group we achieve what we’re trying to achieve.
“I have no doubt we’ll be in a position to challenge again and hopefully go one better.”
Your say…
purbeck67 wrote…
Even if it is paper talk, you’d think Woodgate must be on holidays thinking if he will be the manager because they cannot get anyone else.
Who is in charge of recruitment? Surely next season’s manager will want us to be looking for specific types of player for our system of play next year. We have lost a month and if we don’t hit the ground running next season we are in trouble.
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