Bournemouth had incoming bids from both Manchester United and West Ham United for Josh King over the summer transfer window, yet the Norwegian remains on the South Coast.
Reports claim that Ed Woodward gave the Cherries just 15 minutes to accept his £20 million deadline day offer for King. It was of course, rejected, before last month West ham tabled a £13 million bid – that too was rejected.
Now, as King resumes league duties with Bournemouth, were the club foolish to not accept any bid for King over the summer transfer window?
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He’s featured five times in the Championship so far this season. The 28-year-old is yet to get off the mark and having been dropped to the bench for the previous 3-1 win at Birmingham City, it seems like his stock is plummeting.
With his contract running out next summer as well, it adds an extra element to his situation at Bournemouth – come January, if the club haven’t offered him a new deal then he can start talking to new suitors about a free transfer come the time of his contract expiry.
Alternatively, Bournemouth could look to force his departure. But after seeing United’s failed bid, followed by West Ham’s much smaller bid with the same outcome, it’s going to have dented Bournemouth’s stance in the market.
Expect any offer that comes in for King to be much smaller than the previous two.
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Striker aren’t exactly in abundance at Bournemouth though – Arnaut Danjuma started and netted against Birmingham, alongside Dominic Solanke who has two Championship goals to his name so far.
King needs to show some kind of form in the build-up to Christmas, not only to better his chances of an upward move, but to do a decency to the club that’s shown so much faith in him.
His stock could yet return to the £20 million mark that United were offering, but it’ll have to rise quickly to avoid a contract fiasco come New Year.
