Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola has admitted he ‘cannot control’ the future of star striker Dominic Solanke amid reports of a return to Chelsea.
The 26-year-old striker left the Blues for Liverpool back in 2017 but scored just one goal in 27 appearances for the Reds, subsequently joining Bournemouth in January 2019.
Even at the Vitality Stadium, it took a while for Solanke to get going but the 2023/24 campaign just gone was arguably his greatest yet, netting 21 goals across all competitions and 19 in the Premier League to finish behind only Alexander Isak (21), Cole Palmer (22) and Erling Haaland (27) in the Golden Boot race.
It will come as little surprise, then, that Solanke is now being linked with a return to Chelsea, with BBC Sport reporting that the one-time England international has a £65m release clause in his contract that can only be activated by certain clubs.
Bournemouth’s next-highest scorer in the Premier League last season was Antoine Semenyo with just eight goals, while Justin Kluivert was the only other player to reach seven.
With that in mind, it would be a massive blow to the Cherries’ hopes of building on their 12th-place finish if they lost Solanke.
Even so, manager Iraola has admitted that despite Solanke being ‘happy’, he ‘cannot control’ what happens in the summer transfer market.
“Dom is happy,” he said. “He has come back in very good shape, is training very well and the relationship he has with his team-mates is very good.
“But the market is open. You cannot say he is going to stay or that he is going to leave because we don’t know. In the end, it is something you cannot control.”
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