Sky Sports have reported that Bournemouth have seen their initial bid of around £20 million for Demarai Gray rejected by former Premier League champions Leicester City as Craig Shakespeare has insisted that he sees the youngster his plans next season.
The 21-year-old English international had arrived from Birmingham City for £3.5m in January 2016 but could hardly see a starting place under Claudio Ranieri. And by the time he left, the Foxes had little scope to experiment with him limiting Gray to just nine league starts. He has been mostly a bench player who made 32 appearances as a substitute in all competitions.
Shakespeare looks determined to hold onto the exciting talent and has even promised him more, Shakespeare said, “Dimi’s representatives came in to have a meeting with the director of football (Jon Rudkin), I wasn’t privy to that,” Shakespeare said. We’ve had conversations, myself and Dimi. It is well-documented. We have spoken about trying to give him more game-time and we are both happy with that.”
While Bournemouth has mostly failed to break his transfer fee, we expect Eddie Howe to come back with a stronger one and he would most definitely need to. Eddie Howe’s beautiful football saw Bournemouth score an impressive 55 goals last season, one more than Manchester United, and the arrival of Jermain Defoe from Sunderland would mean they can better that tally this time.
However, the Cherries are hardly expected to break that ceiling with the likes of Joshua King and Benik Afobe. An exciting talent like Gray could really help the Cherries go to the next level that they should ideally target after surviving two seasons in the Premier League and quite decently.
Though the prospect of staying with Leicester City seems more alluring, Gray knows that he will see more regular chances at the Vitality Stadium that has seen youngsters like Tyrone Mings, Baily Cargill, Lewis Cook and Ryan Fraser, all making a mark last season.
Gray’s talent is quite special from the flanks. At 21, he is tremendously fast and confident and can provide some of the most brilliant crosses from the left flank. Having someone like Defoe alongside him will only help him flourish more.
He was selected for England’s Under-21 European Championship in Poland that was held last month and he didn’t fail to impress at all, scoring twice before England lost to Germany in the semifinal game.