If Antoine Semenyo is in his final days as a Bournemouth player, he departs a club with problems. Andoni Iraola’s status as a hot property has chilled amid difficult winter months. Bournemouth are the latest club to struggle after selling players to offset harsh financial winds. Of the Premier League’s set of “well-run”, smaller clubs, perhaps Brentford now provide the best example of how to stay afloat after losing key personnel.
Igor Thiago and hat-trick hero Kevin Schade positively ravaged Bournemouth’s defenders, suggesting if the Semenyo money can be reinvested, the place to start is at the back. Semenyo, said to be Manchester-bound, got on the scoresheet but by then, his team were three goals down. There would be no comeback.
A year that began with high promise ebbs into dust, from missing out on Europe to a recent run of form where the last Premier League victory came two months ago. If Dean Huijsen, Illia Zabarnyi and Milos Kerkez have had struggles at their elite destinations, losing them is now taking a heavy toll; their replacements are struggling awfully. Equally problematic is a lack of goals; Bournemouth kicked off seventh in the table on chance creation but with a negative goal difference.
