With the summer additions of Nathan Ake, Jermain Defoe and Asmir Begovic its clear to see that Bournemouth are trying to further establish themselves as a Premier League club. Things may not have gone to plan in their 1-0 opening day loss against West Brom, but over the long term things look encouraging both on and off the pitch.
As well as beginning their plans to move to a new stadium last month the South coast club are also looking to upgrade what we don’t see every weekend. Today Bournemouth submitted a planning application for a new multi-million pound training complex.
As we’ve come to know, Bournemouth are very much a family club and that won’t go away now that they’re looking to improve their stature in English football. The plan is that this new training complex will be used by the Cherrie’s first team, development squad, academy and pre-academy squads once up and running.
AFC Bournemouth Chief Executive, Niell Blake has said:
“This is another hugely exciting development for the club, on the back of our recent announcement regarding a new stadium in Kings Park.
“Our existing training site has served the club very well, but will be developed on to accommodate our plans for the future.
“Therefore, it was important to find a suitable location in which we can build training facilities that are befitting of a Premier League club and provide everything we need to continue maintaining and enhancing the performance of elite footballers.”
Like most top Premier League clubs their new training ground will have the works. 10 full sized pitches, three junior pitches, an indoor artificial playing surface, state-of-the-art medical, fitness, sports science and rehabilitation facilities, administrative space and a press conference theatre.
With building intended to start as soon as possible after the proposal has been approved this could well push Bournemouth up yet another level under the guidance of Eddie Howe.
It’s fair to say that these plans of a new stadium and training facilities will without doubt attract new faces down South, but there’s also one very important factor which will benefit from this. Youth.
It seems like an age-old conversation now but the fact is not enough time is spent on developing the England stars of tomorrow, but Bournemouth look to be taking steps in that direction. Here’s what Blake had to say on the matter:
“The proposed training complex will not only offer first class facilities for Premier League footballers but also provide the perfect place to help develop the next generation of AFC Bournemouth stars.
“This development is another statement of intent from the club, and shows the commitment of the shareholders to the continued vision of progression for AFC Bournemouth, while maintaining stability.”
With Nathan Ake and Jermian Defoe proving that Eddie Howe and Bournemouth have belief in young players over the years, these new developments could help the club to produce more of their own youth products in the future.
However, this week Bournemouth are looking get their first points of the season on the board as they face Watford and they’ll be hoping that their short term goals of getting 3 points will go just as successfully as their long term plans. It’ll surely be a great game to watch as Premier League football returns to the Vitality Stadium.