Bournemouth are trying to solve a very modern Premier League puzzle.
Invest – and they have done that in spades under ambitious owner Bill Foley – and you can make big strides forward. But sooner or later, a combination of the top flight’s restrictive financial rules and your own success is going to force you to take a couple of backward steps.
That is the point which Bournemouth’s project is at now. Antoine Semenyo’s impending move to Manchester City will make him the sixth big name to exit the club since a summer in which their bright, talented squad was picked off by Europe’s elite clubs.
“We aren’t selling players for fun,” one insider told The i Paper this week ahead of the imminent sale of star man Semenyo to Manchester City. That deal will be rubber-stamped next week with only a few details still needing to be finalised.
But even that is proof of Bournemouth’s smart thinking. Faced with the prospect of losing Semenyo in the summer, they negotiated a new contract that included an innovative release clause that worked in the player’s favour if he remained motivated.
Their man-management has been excellent too. When Manchester United fumbled the chance to sign him in the summer with derisory offers, Bournemouth insiders urged him to use it as fuel for this season.
As a result, they have benefited from a player at the peak of his powers for 21 games this term.
The money banked from Semenyo’s sale, which will be paid to Bournemouth over “a minimum” of 24 months, will allow them to reinvest. They attempted to sign Crystal Palace-bound Brennan Johnson but it’s understood there’s no truth in reports they are in for Arsenal’s Ethan Nwaneri. Instead they may look to Europe and once again attempt to sign potential.
Bournemouth’s PSR situation
Insiders are “sad” at Semenyo’s exit, pointing out that his conduct and professionalism has been commendable. But financial reality means they have had little choice but to sell players.
The i Paper understands Bournemouth’s squad cost ratio (wage budget, transfer amortisation costs and agent fees, divided by overall revenue) was 83 per cent before the summer sales. That’s perilously close to the 85 per cent allowable under the new financial rules.
Had they not sold players in the summer, they would have risked breaching Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) after Foley sanctioned nearly £350m of signings in the previous two years. That would have brought a ruinous points penalty.
“The reality is that the new rules don’t help us at all given the size of our stadium and commercial revenue,” one insider admits. They are making gains on that front but not at the rate of Premier League rivals, so player trading is going to remain a central plank of their strategy to compete.
Iraola’s future
But the better news is that the bloodletting is almost certainly over. Marcos Senesi will leave on a free in the summer after rejecting four different attempts to renew his contract but there are unlikely to be a slew of big name departures.
Tyler Adams and Justin Kluivert will draw interest but Bournemouth would demand big money for both and do not foresee wholesale departures this summer.
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Semenyo’s departure means others in the squad, which was reinforced in the summer with six new signings, must “step up”. Insiders point out that Ben Doak and Veljko Milosavljevic are both teenagers with “very high ceilings”.
And there is still hope that transformative head coach Andoni Iraola can be persuaded to stay, even if contract talks won’t resume until February at the earliest.
It’s believed that Iraola, linked with some of the biggest jobs in Europe, will “wait and analyse” what happens in January and what his squad is capable of in February before making a decision on what he does next.
For those who like to see the Premier League maintain its competitive edge, it would be lovely if he bucked the trend and stayed put.
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