We often hear people, whether that be opposition fans or the media, criticising Eddie Howe for having had an awful recruitment policy. Apparently it makes him a fraud, or simply not good enough. Let’s actually analyse his transfers and find out.

Thread #afcb

To do this, we’ll look at every one of his transfers from 14/15 to 19/20. I’ll write a little bit about each transfer, and rate them all out of 10. Feel free to discuss the ratings I’ve given them.

2014/15:
CALLUM WILSON: £3m (money received by selling Lewis Grabban that same summer) for a man who scored 61 goals in 171 games, 20 of those making Championship promotion a reality. Then, despite downing tools last season, sold for £20m, making a £17m profit.
10/10

ANDREW SURMAN: Signed for ≈ 500k after a succesful loan spell. Won Players’ Player of the Year in 14/15. Ever-present in 15/16. Mr Consistent, although often derided as Sideways Surman. Released this year as legs started to go. Over 175 games for the Cherries (second spell)
9/10

KENWYNE JONES: One of the best loan signings in this club’s history. Gave us versatility up front, and scored a MASSIVE goal to equalise at Ipswich. Do we go up without this addition? Maybe not. For what it’s worth, a brilliant, brilliant piece of magic.
9/10

ARTUR BORUC: Initially on loan, later permanently. Best keeper in the club’s history? Perhaps. Despite being error prone he was a huge part of our side both in the Championship and the PL. Over 100 apps, mentor to Ramsdale and Co. And I mean - what a bloke. Love him to bits
9/10

JUNIOR STANISLAS: Signed on a free. Really came into his own in the PL. Big goals v Everton, Man Utd exc. 28 goals in 130 games. And still a big part of our Champ team. All that for no money.
9/10

DAN GOSLING: Another free transfer. Another guy who came to the fore in the PL. Not very good technically, but gives 100%. Workhorse. Over 160 games. Popped up with a goal here and there too. Very good.
8/10

So, in the Cherries’ Championship winning season, not one poor, or even average signing. And all of these signings for ≈ £3.5m - Eddie Fraud!

2015/16:
CHRISTIAN ATSU: Did he actually play? Can’t remember. It was a loan though so who really cares.
2/10

JOE BENNETT: Needed left back cover after injuries, so we got left back cover. Didn’t play, but he was there if we needed him. Loan too, so little to no expense
4/10

ARTUR BORUC: Signed permanently on a free. See 2014/15

JOSH KING: £1m for a guy who looked rubbish. Ended up being our top PL scorer. Nothing more needs to be said, really.
10/10

SYLVAIN DISTIN:
OK, I think. Can’t really remember in all honesty, which probably tells you a lot. Quite slow if I remember.
4/10

ADAM FEDERICI:
Free transfer. Decent second choice keeper. Made some top, top saves. Looked like he was a nice bloke, too.
5/10

BENIK AFOBE:
Goals kept us up. Then we pulled Wolves’ pants down by forcing them to sign him. They realised he was shite so immediately sold him. But we made a profit, and remained a PL side.
7/10

TYRONE MINGS:
Up the Fucking Cherries. Seemed to be a nice lad, but never really able to put his stamp on the side. Didn’t help his knees were made of lettuce. Rattled Zlatan. Then sold for £26m (somehow) because he did OK on loan in the Champ. Thus making him a good signing
8/10

MAXI GRADEL: Still love you Maxi. Cry every night that this didn’t work out. I blame the knee. Tore Jenkinson apart, which was fun. Anyway, still doing well in Ligue 1. And look at that smile.
4/10

LEWIS GRABBAN: Yeah, I can’t try and defend this one. Made for some good chants at Norwich. And he may have scored once. Maybe.
1/10

GLENN MURRAY: That Chelsea goal made whatever we forked out for him worth it. Made our money back on him, too.
7/10

LEE TOMLIN: Chubby
1/10

JUAN ITURBE: Cracking chant. Thought we were signing the Paraguayan Messi. We actually signed the Paraguayan Lys Mousset
1/10

RHOYS WIGGINS: Yeah, not Eddie’s finest.
0/10

So, 2015/16 not a great one in all honesty. Josh King the obvious gem. Mings, Boruc, Murray and Afobe various degrees of decent/ok. A couple of shitters though. I think Edward got a bit excited when Maxim arrived with the TV money. Thankfully, he’d come to resist the temptations.

2016/17:
NATHAN AKE: My hero, my mate. I’ll talk about him more later

JORDON IBE: Yeah, probably the worst signing of the PL era. Wasn’t very good. Bit of a car crash signing. Scored the winner v Arsenal, I guess. And I think he may have made a couple of dribbles.
1/10

LEWIS COOK: £6m for the world’s best player? Bargain.
9/10

LYS MOUSSET: Bit fat. Bit up his arse. Was a bit of a Super Sub at once point however. Pulled Wilder’s pants down with a £10m fee too.
5/10

BRAD SMITH: Don’t actually think he was an awful signing. Low fee, provided LB depth, and gave a couple of decent performances (Arsenal away stands out). Certainly not game changing though.
4/10

JACK WILSHERE: We managed to get Jack fucking Wilshere on loan. THE Jack Wilshere. England’s most technically gifted player of his generation Jack Wilshere. He was bloody good for us, too.
9/10

MARC WILSON: Didn’t he score v Morecambe?
2/10

AARON RAMSDALE: Cheap as chips. One excellent season. Player of the year. Then sold for £18m. Wilder with his trousers down yet again.
9/10

EMERSON HYNDMAN: I’m still mentally scarred by Hyndman-Surman midfields in the cup competitions.
3/10

A couple of poor transfers here (Ibe, Smith, Wilson), but weighed out by some brilliant ones (L Cook,
Wilshere, Ramsdale, Ake). Overall - pretty good.

(We also sold Ritchie for £10m that year. Tomlin and Murray both went for £3m each as well)

2017/18:
NATHAN AKE: No words for this man. The best player to ever wear the red and black. Then sold for £40m
10/10

ASMIR BEGOVIC: An interesting one. To begin, he resembled David Button. Now, he’s like Yashin’s cousin. Makes him a decent buy I reckon
7/10

JERMAIN DEFOE: Scored a thundercunt against Palace. Nice fella. Hefty wages though.
5/10

CONNOR MAHONEY: Pffff
4/10

2017/18 represented a good window. Ake the highlight.

2018/19:
JEFFERSON LERMA: Big fee. But just look at that smile. Massive shithouse as well. Love him to bits.
8/10

DOMINIC SOLANKE: Dom Dom Di Dom Dom Dom Solanke. Not the worst signing in the world as some would lead you to believe. Has come on leaps and bounds this season. Still expensive.
5/10

DIEGO RICO: Mi amor. Mi vida. Mi corazón. However, not the world’s best footballer. Although he does have lovely hair.
7/10

CHRIS MEPHAM: IMO our best CB. Bags of potential. World class on Football Manager.
7/10

DAVID BROOKS: Dai may not be in good form at the moment, but don’t let that fool you into think he’s not very good. He is. And £10m for him (essentially a Mousset) is a bargain.
9/10

NATHANIEL CLYNE: Was OK, then went and had a hippy crack party. He was dogshit thereafter.
4/10

A lot of money spent in this season. But bar the exception of Solanke, most of that was spent well and did improve our squad. Not the willynilly spree some like to think of it as.

2019/20:
ARNAUT DANJUMA: Shame he was injured for the best part of last season. And this one. Shown his abundant talent. Very excited to see him this season and beyond - and I think we sorely miss him at the moment.
6/10

PHILLIP BILLING: A divisive figure within our fanbase. Has had about 5 good games in a year. Not a good one for me, especially for such a fee.
4/10

LLOYD KELLY: Sometime a bit good, sometimes a bit shit. Got all the components of a brilliant CB - just needs to work on his footballing intelligence. We did beat Liverpool to his transfer which was a laugh.
6/10

JACK STACEY: Arguably Eddie’s best signing of his last couple of signings. A hidden gem on the cheap. Love him and he’s only going to get better.
9/10

HARRY WILSON: The media thought he was good because he scored a couple. He was not good.
3/10

CONCLUSION: So that’s all of Eddie’s signings since 2014/15. Not a bad repertoire for a man accused of being awful at transfers. Yes there are a couple of shockers, but find me one club or one manager who hasn’t done the same? #afcb