Jordon Ibe made the move to the south coast from Liverpool ahead of the 2016/17 Premier League campaign, with the Cherries breaking their then-record transfer fee to land Ibe in a deal reported to be around the £13-15million mark.
Ibe made 78 Premier League appearances over the past four seasons, scoring 3 goals and claiming 7 assists. He played a total of 3,905 minutes in the top flight of English football for the Cherries.
However just 48 minutes came this season, coming from two substitute appearances, the last was against Leicester City in August 2019. The last ten months of Ibe’s career have been dominated by incidents off the pitch.
In March, Ibe vowed to make his daughter proud, in a social media post reflecting on his recent 16-month driving ban and a £7,500 fine by Bromley Magistrates’ Court after he was found guilty of failing to stop at the scene of an accident after he had crashed his Bentley into a cafe in Bromley, South East London, causing £15,000 worth of damage in July 2019.
In May he was stopped by police for driving whilst disqualified. Ibe said in a statement…
‘I want to apologise for my recent actions and explain the circumstances around my behaviour.
‘I am currently in rehabilitation and hoping with the right help my mental health can improve and I can concentrate on becoming a better person after making poor judgements.
‘While banned from driving I have been stopped by the police driving my car and will now face punishment for this error.
Later that month he was subject to an internal investigation by AFC Bournemouth after he posted a photo of himself visiting a barbers during lockdown.
In April, Ibe was linked with a potential move to Scotland to join Scottish Premiership champions Celtic.
AFC Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe told The Sun…
“…he’s not training with us and he hasn’t for some time.
“His contract expires at the end of June and we are not going to offer him a new deal.
“I have no regrets signing him and I’m not going to sit here and criticise anybody.
“For Jordon there is the sadness from my side because it just didn’t quite happen for him on a consistent basis.
“I’ve said many times the talent is in the lad, he is outstanding physically and technically.
“But when a player doesn’t fulfil his potential under my management it doesn’t sit comfortably.”
“I hope Jordon goes on and has the career his ability should allow him to have. And no one will be more pleased than me to see him deliver what I know he can.”
Your say…
LewSwimmin wrote…
He doesn’t come over as arrogant or cocky on AFCB videos, and people who have met him seem to have found him to be quite pleasant, but he does seem to have a talent for football that he somehow can’t properly activate – there is something missing there that would normally push someone on to achieve their potential. He seems a bit like a quality car with lots of top features and equipment but with a broken clutch that no one is able to repair. He’s still young and I for one hope he finds somewhere and someone who can turn him into the proper and successful footballer that he could still be. – Join the conversation, click here.
