Premier League club AFC Bournemouth and local second-tier outfit Southampton have announced a loan deal between the two football clubs.
29-year-old midfielder Joe Rothwell has made the short move along the south coast to help Bournemouth’s lower division neighbours in their pursuit of promotion.
Rothwell made the move to AFC Bournemouth in June 2022, signing for the Cherries on a free transfer from Blackburn Rovers.
Rothwell, who represented England at Under 16’s, 17’s, 19’s and 20’s having previously come through the youth academy at Manchester United had signed a four-year deal at Dean Court.
For Blackburn Rovers he had made 99 Championship starts and added a further 50 appearances as a substitute, scoring 10 goals and claiming 18 assists during a four-season stint.
At AFC Bournemouth he has made 35 appearances in all competitions, 23 of those appearances have come in the Premier League.
However, only 3 of those have been starts during the current campaign under new AFC Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola.
With competition from Ryan Christie, Lewis Cook, Philip Billing, Alex Scott and eventually the returning Tyler Adams, AFC Bournemouth have a fair few options in the centre of midfield, with Rothwell seemingly dropping further and further down the pecking order under Iraola.
Red and white Rothwell ❤️🤍 pic.twitter.com/4v5hOL37la
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) January 15, 2024
Rothwell told Southampton’s official website…
“I’m thankful to Southampton for allowing me to come here. Hopefully I can come in and show my experience of this league and help them get over the line.
“I can’t wait to finally get going and put my boots on, and hopefully we can get the club back to where it belongs.”
Your say…
Waz afcb said…
Good move for them and for him.
He’s a classy player who is easily good enough to play at this level in the right setup, as he displayed last season. He just doesn’t fit our current style of play at all, not got enough of an engine to play in our midfield.
Neil Dawson replied…
I don’t understand strengthening Southampton at all. If we want to get his wages off the books there would be other takers.
Our strategic interest is to be the area’s only Premier League catchment club. We missed the chance to relegate them a few years back and cast them into the wilderness when they had a poor squad. Last year they had an ok squad just poor management choices. They’ve got an excellent manager now and stand a great chance of coming up. We should not be aiding that. Disappointed with this move which to me lacks strategic thought. – To join the conversation, click here.
