Colombia international and World Cup star Jefferson Lerma may well hold the tag of AFC Bournemouth’s most expensive signing, but that doesn’t mean he will find it easy to break into the Cherries squad.
Following his World Cup expliots, Lerma missed the majority of pre-season with Spanish side Levante ahead of his £25million move to Dean Court.
Due to this lack of match fitness, Lerma has been absent in the Cherries opening two squads of the Premier League season.
With back-to-back victories, that starting XI has now had the opportunity to lay their claim to the shirt and as such Andrew Surman and Dan Gosling have not only kept Lerma out of the squad, but also England international Lewis Cook.
So whilst Cook and Lerma cost a combined £35million plus and Surman and Gosling cost £500,000 combined, Lerma (or indeed Cook), will not find it any easier to fight their way into Eddie Howe’s thinking.
AFC Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe told the Daily Echo…
“You can’t pick a team based on a transfer fee. That’s something I would never do.
“I pick a team based on what I see and on what I consider will give us the best chance to win.
“That’s not dependent on the transfer fee. I think you have seen a lot of players who have come here on free transfers and nominal fees who are still playing ahead of players who we have paid bigger money for.
“That’s the competition the squad needs. The players need to know I am picking a team on merit, not on what price has been paid for a player.
Your say…
Tinpot Club wrote…
2nd round of the Carabao Cup is 27th August. That will be about 3 weeks from when Lerma signed. Given his lack of pre-season compared to the rest of the squad, I’m surprised anyone thinks he’ll be seen before then. – Join the conversation, click here.
AFCB Vital sponsors of Cherry Bear and Supporters Travel
