It has been widely speculated that AFC Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe would like to bolster his midfield options ahead of the 2019/20 Premier League campaign.
They’re working hard on potential incomings…
Striker/winger
Central midfielder
GoalkeeperBe patient.
Bournemouth’s most important transfer business this summer is to keep Ake, Brooks, Wilson.
— Mark McAdam (@markmcadamtv) July 20, 2019
Sky Sports reporter and former AFC Bournemouth employee Mark McAdam has confirmed as much and the apparent number one target for the Cherries is Huddersfield Town midfielder, Phillip Billing.
Cherries retain an interest in Huddersfield's Philip Billing but no deal close at this stage. Would be a good addition to the midfield, Premier League experience and potential for improvement at 23. #afcb
— Tom Crocker (@TomCrockerEcho) July 22, 2019
#AFCB are understood to be interesting in signing Philip Billing from Huddersfield Town
However reports that talks are at an advanced stage are believed to be premature pic.twitter.com/WrJF9ywKHx
— BBC Radio Solent Sport (@solentsport) July 22, 2019
The 23-year-old Denmark born midfielder has been with Huddersfield Town since 2013 when he signed a youth contract following a move from Esbjerg fB.
Billing has gained Premier League experience over the past two seasons with 43 appearances and has made 7 appearances for Denmark Under-21’s.
However his Huddersfield Town career is over, not due to their relegation from the Premier League to the Championship, but due to comments, he made whilst he was away on international duty.
The Daily Mail have reported that he was fined three weeks wages for comments that he made regarding Huddersfield Town manager Jan Siewert. Billing was quoted as saying…
‘He is special. Real German mentality, little strange. He came in like he had won the Premier League five times, a little arrogant, and I think most of the players lost the respect for him after week one. People could see there was something wrong.’
Due to this Billing has been exiled from the first-team and is currently training with the Huddersfield Town youth team academy.
Huddersfield clearly wants him out of the club and his destination could be Dean Court, however, their apparent £17million asking price has somewhat stalled his potential move.
Local Huddersfield Town newspaper The Examiner reported…
Initial word from the south coast was that Billing was on the verge of a switch to the Cherries, but while the Examiner can confirm that Bournemouth’s interest is genuine, we can also reveal that no agreement has yet been reached between the two clubs.
Your say…
Seeing as he was down in Bournemouth a couple of weeks back, this isn’t a surprise now. Just hope we can get a good deal, as they obviously want him gone too. I would hope for something like £10/12million to open, leading upwards a little bit depending on how well he does. I don’t think £17million would be that unreasonable in this current climate but just not all upfront. – Join the conversation, click here.