AFC Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe insists he will only sign a new player during the January transfer window if he feels he must act.
Howe has been insistent that the mid-season transfer window is notoriously difficult to do business in for many years.
Since promotion to the Premier League, Benik Afobe has proven to be the most notable January transfer window signing when he made the move to Dean Court in 2016.
The Cherries broke the then club record transfer fee to sign Afobe, following a season ending injury for striker Callum Wilson.
Last season the only signing AFC Bournemouth made in January was to sign youth goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.
Howe told the Daily Echo…
‘There is a pressure on managers to sign players – that’s what everyone wants.
‘I go back to when we were going for promotion in the Championship and in January there was a lot of talk about loads of players coming in for that final push.
‘We signed one player in the second half of the season and that was Kenwyne Jones on loan. He was an important addition and scored an important goal at Ipswich.
‘But we achieved promotion by doing nothing, really. We didn’t change and I think that was one of the reasons why we achieved our goal…’
‘…When you feel you need to do something, you have to act. But there’s a whole host of things you have to think about before making that decision.’
Your Say…
Def_II_Royalz wrote…
This crazy inflation makes me even prouder of what we’ve achieved through our coaching and nurturing players through the academy. It won’t bring us the Champion’s League but I feel much more invested in this team than if we had a few £50 million+ ‘marquee signings’ who would make us a top 7 side for a few seasons before bogging off to Utd or wherever.
You’d have to say that Jack Simpson, if he played the next 15 games and averaged a player rating of 6.0 would be worth £10 million by virtue of the fact he’d played in the Premier League. Which is insane. – Join the conversation here.
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