Less than a week after securing the Championship title, Bournemouth have reportedly made a club record offer of £5million for Eder.
A 3-0 win over Bolton Wanderers last Monday was enough to secure the Cherries promotion to the Premier League, meaning next season they will play in the top-flight for the first time in their history. As if this wasn’t enough to celebrate, just days later they pipped Watford to the title when they beat Charlton Athletic and the Hornets were held by Sheffield Wednesday.
Eddie Howe will now spend the summer weeks considering his options for the transfer window, as he plans to ensure the Goldsands club avoid an instant return to the Championship. The Bournemouth boss already smashed their transfer record with the £3million purchase of Callum Wilson from Coventry City in January, and now he hopes to eclipse this by bringing in Eder.
The 27-year-old striker, who played for Portugal at the World Cup Finals last summer, is a prolific goalscorer in his homeland where he is starring for Sporting Braga although he has yet to open his account in 17 matches for his country. At club level, though, he has notched 23 times in 58 league appearances, and has hit 10 goals in all competitions this term.
Eder is under contract at the Estadio Municipal de Braga for just another 12 months, meaning his club may decide to cash in on him in the summer if he doesn’t agree fresh terms. And The Telegraph believe Howe is prepared to use £5million of his budget to lure the 6ft 3in target-man to Bournemouth, although Southampton are also believed to admire the player.
Meanwhile, club chairman Jeff Mostyn has revealed that plans to expand the Goldsands Stadium from 11,700 to 18,000 may now be postponed in favour of improving the squad for the demands of the Premier League. Speaking to the BBC, he said: “We need to make sure that we put the majority of our investment into the team, so that we can retain our Premier League position.”
Is Eder the type of player Eddie Howe should be looking at to boost his Bournemouth team, and are the club right to halt their stadium plans to focus on their squad?
