As expected, last week, striker Benik Afobe completed his permanent move back “home” to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Cherries signed Afobe in January 2016 for a reported fee of around £9million.
His two years at Dean Court were mixed, overall he has made 70 appearances for the Cherries scoring 11 goals.
Four of those goals came during his first eight appearances for the club, helping the side to victories over Norwich City, Crystal Palace and Southampton and a crucial point away to Sunderland. All of which played their part in the club securing safety during their first season in the Premier League.
This season, however, Afobe scored once in 23 appearances and whilst there had been plenty of rumours linking him with a move away, Howe had previously insisted that he would remain in the squad.
However, a financially tempting loan move was placed and agreed in January.
Wolves have landed their man – Benik Afobe is back.
Loan fee of around £1m, Wolves paying wages in full and I'm told they have an option – not an obligation – to buy Afobe in the summer.
— Tim Spiers (@TimSpiers) January 31, 2018
Afobe scored 6 goals in 16 appearances in the Championship, with his goals all coming in victories over Leeds United, Reading, Burton Albion, Birmingham City and Bolton Wanderers.
With Wolves winning the Championship, according to the Daily Echo, that triggered a further payment of £1million from Wolves to AFC Bournemouth.
Wolves then had until the end of May to decide whether or not to make the move permanent, which they opted to do.
The fee is officially undisclosed, but it looks likely that AFC Bournemouth have made a profit on Afobe’s two and a half year spell on the south coast.
Reports in the Midlands suggest that the transfer fee is £10million, so fees already received from the loan spell appear to boost the value of the deal to £12.5million.
Am told the Afobe fee is actually £10m. With the impending purchases of Diogo Jota (£13m) and Willy Boly (£10m) that will take Wolves' early summer spending to £33m. It's June 1. #wwfc
— Tim Spiers (@TimSpiers) June 1, 2018
Despite having only spent less than 12 months with Wolves in his initial spell, Afobe claimed that his former club was his home and was in tears ahead of his initial loan move taking shape.
The deal will clearly make Afobe very happy.
Sitting on the bench at AFC Bournemouth he still had a lot to offer but was arguably fourth or fifth choice for selection behind Callum Wilson, Joshua King, Jermain Defoe and Lys Mousset.
Wolves now make the step up to the top flight of English football with more firepower, plus a striker with Premier League experience.
Meanwhile, AFC Bournemouth have boosted their summer transfer kitty for AFC Bournemouth to invest in the squad, should he see fit.
It’s a move that everyone should be happy with unless he scores the winner at Dean Court….
Your say…
Toronto John wrote…
In baseball, we have the term soft hands for players that can receive the ball with their hands acting like shock absorbers. Always smooth and very calm looking. The opposite is board hands – guys who often have the ball clang off their gloves. Almost an inherent skill, hard to teach. Benik had board feet – he often had good scoring chances but his first touches were a mess. He is a big guy but didn’t seem to use that to his advantage. Liked him while we had him, hope he does well next season just not against us. – Join the conversation, click here.
AFCB Vital sponsors of Cherry Bear and Supporters Travel
