On July 1st, Bournemouth winger Jordon Ibe will become a free agent after four years with the south coast club. This situation would have been unthinkable in 2016 when he joined the Cherries from Liverpool for £16million.
At the time it was a big transfer fee for the club from the south coast. In Premier League terms, it was not a major fee though.
Ibe arrived as a highly-rated young 20-year-old, but he has struggled to develop into the player that everybody connected with the Cherries hoped he would.
The team has slumped into the relegation zone this season. Eddie Howe’s team have produced that relegation special of a poor defence coupled with an impotent attack. That usually doesn’t end well for teams.
It would be harsh to lay the blame of the Cherries struggles solely at the feet of Ibe. However, signing Ibe was an uncharacteristic move from Bournemouth, who had previously shone courtesy of the team togetherness, with most of the Cherries top performers in their early top-flight years with them in the lower leagues.
They had to spend some money to develop the team. However, several relatively big-money signings have flopped like a jellyfish on a wet mattress in recent years. Another example is forward Dominic Solanke.
The 22-year-old joined from, once again Liverpool, who seem to have done well out of selling the young duo for a fee totalling £36million. Solanke also arrived as a bright prospect from the Merseyside club.
However, in two seasons, he has yet to score a goal for the Cherries in 34 Premier League appearances.
The two youngsters are an example of how Bournemouth have failed to develop their team. That failure to progress may just land the south coast outfit back in the Championship in the near future.
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