Chelsea were heavily linked with Alex Scott in the summer as our preferred replacement for Enzo Fernández, but Bournemouth were unwilling to do business — and less and less so the later we got in the transfer window — so a move would fail to materialize even as we sanctioned Enzo’s exit to Sham City. (And welcomed our Jordan Henderson era!)
Unfortunately for Bournemouth, their season has gotten off to a rather horrendous start with zero wins from their first six games, the latest of which was a 5-1
hammering at Stamford Bridge. To make matter worse, Scott picked up an injury on international duty with England a couple weeks ago and could miss the next two months. By the time he comes back, the Cherries could be rooted deeply in the relegation zone, staring a drop in the face just twelve months after achieving their highest ever league position. Life in football comes at you fast!
Scott’s contract situation meanwhile has been hanging over all of this. The 23-year-old rejected two offers at the end of last season and nothing that has happened since would have been helpful in changing his mind. With less than two years to go on his current deal, Bournemouth are now said to be ‘willing to sanction’ a potential exit. According to the BBC, £100m would be necessary to make that happen, which may make things a bit prohibitive. Chelsea were reportedly thinking more along the lines of £60-65m in the summer.
Still, I suppose the main takeaway here is that Bournemouth have softened their stance from just a few months ago, and are now hoping to engineer a bidding war among the Premier League’s big boys. It’s tough to do something like that in January however. And by the time June rolls around, they may be heading down and that’s not going to be good for their business. So perhaps we can tempt them with a reasonable offer in January.
