AFC Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe believes record signing Jordon Ibe has lacked consistency since his move to the south coast from Liverpool.
Ibe came through the youth set up at Wycombe Wanderers before joining Liverpool in 2012 for an undisclosed fee.
Ibe made 58 appearances for Liverpool, including 20 Premier League starts after he broke through into the Liverpool squad in January 2015.
But following the departure of Brendan Rodgers and the appointment of Jürgen Klopp, Ibe dropped down the pecking order at Anfield and would go on to join the Cherries for a club record £15million fee in July 2016.
Since his move to the south coast the 20 year old has made 11 Premier League appearances and has received mixed reviews from sections of the AFC Bournemouth supporter base.
He is also yet to complete a full game, despite starting all of AFC Bournemouth’s Premier League games this season.
From a potential 990 available minutes, Ibe has played 674.
Howe told the Daily Mirror…
“The only thing Jordon has struggled with for me has been consistency.
“He`s had some great moments, he`s had some good 10-15 minutes, half an hours, but he`s not really put that together for any real consistent period and hence why he`s coming off the pitch.
“He`s got great potential, he`s a player that could be anything he wants to be, and these are early steps for him here. We do tend to forget how young he is.
“The challenge for Jordon is he will stay on the pitch when he puts those performances together. If he does I think he`ll be a real asset for the team.”
Your Say…
redharry wrote…
Its obvious that Ibe has great potential, for me he has been a real thorn in the side of most teams for 60 minutes of each game. Most teams are doubling up on him – that tells you something.
His learning curve is one of 90 minute physical fitness and as someone else posted more importantly 90 minute mental fitness. At the moment he is not a 90 minute player and EH is managing him very well.
I firmly believe he is worth his starting place but equally it wouldn’t surprise me if EH changes the team over the next few games. – Join the conversation here.
It’s easy to join AFCB Vital
Sign up and have your say on the articles, polls and forums, just click the link to register.
