James Hill arrived from Fleetwood Town in January 2022 for a fee of just £1M. Fast forward three and a half years, Hill has just penned a new four year deal with the club, much to the delight of AFCB fans, and is an integral member of Andoni Iraola’s squad. It is worth noting that, unlike most players talked about in this article, he was not signed for the academy. However, he is undoubtedly a success story for the club, and a major tip in the hat of whoever drove the recruitment for the then relatively unknown 19 year old centre back with a giant throw for a very low fee.

Compare that to Zain Silcott-Duberry – he joined permanently from Chelsea in January 2025, with no fee mentioned, just supposedly a hefty sell on-clause for the Blues. He made two minor cameo appearances for the first team, both in the closing stages of wins against Nottingham Forest and Everton, but has now joined Olympiacos on a permanent deal. Again, there has been no mention of a fee, just a future sell-on clause for AFCB. Whether the club will view that as a success or not will likely be clearer after he moves on from Olympiacos.

There are so many examples of different recruitment within the academy/for younger players – the Championship promoted side of 2021/22 was full of success stories within the academy: Mark Travers, Jaidon Anthony, Jordan Zemura and Gavin Kilkenny all played a pivotal role in promotion. These were all players that were brought in at a young age to play in the youth team – Kilkenny and Travers were scouted in Ireland and brought to the South Coast, whilst Zemura and Anthony were picked up after being released by Charlton and Arsenal respectively.

Whilst Zemura and Kilkenny eventually left for free (despite the best efforts of the club to keep hold of Zemura), Travers and Anthony were sold (separately) for a combined fee of over £10M – which is brilliant for the club aligning with ‘PSR’ rules, as players being sold from the academy represent “pure profit” on the balance sheet. So every penny earned from the sales of those two goes straight to the compliance of those rules, with nothing owed to other clubs.

Many AFCB fans were shocked that Silcott-Duberry was moved on already, but this is why I believe we will see many more deals like his at the club in the future – players signed for the academy, not to play many games for the first team, and then sold on rather than leaving for free in a couple of years.

Daniel Adu-Adjei is another prime example of this. Adu-Adjei made one first team appearance for the club, but having been in scintillating form the U-21’s after a loan at Carlisle last season, and netting against Everton in America this summer, it seemed his stocks had never been higher, and a loan move would be on the cards. But instead, Adu-Adjei was sold, joining the newest club of the Bill Foley footballing empire, HNK Rijeka. It is possible, and purely speculative, that he would not have been sold if it was not to a club under the Black Knight Football umbrella. You would image, too, that is with most deals in the modern age centred around young players, there will be a hefty sell-on and/or a buy-back clause, to keep some control over the player.

Of course, you must also factor in that the club are now a ‘Category 2’ category, thanks to the new training ground, and are pushing to get ‘Category 1’ status sooner rather than later. This means they play in more competitive leagues and cups, and players will be signed so that the development teams can compete at a higher level.

It has been interesting this summer how few players have moved on loan to get experience in men’s football. This could be due to how seriously the club is taking football at these youth levels in order to continue growing in that regard. Dominic Sadi is one I would have expected to get another football league loan after impressing in the first half of last season at Carlisle, but he remains at the club as captain of the U-21 team. Max Kinsey was involved in the first team squad on many occasions over the last couple of seasons, but is struggling for gametime at non-league Truro. Ben Winterburn spent the whole pre-season with the first team before moving on loan to League 2 Barnet for regular first team football.

Winterburn is a rare success story for the younger age groups of the academy, having been at the club since the age of 11, and going on to make seven first team appearances this season and last. Five of those came in the Premier League – Sam Surridge is the only true AFC Bournemouth academy graduate who made more for the club (six). Surridge, interestingly, is quickly becoming one of the most successful academy graduates in the club’s history – the current MLS top scorer, ahead of Lionel Messi. He was not a huge success whilst at the club, but to see a local lad go onto succeed is never a bad thing, and proves the club can help nurture and develop good talent.

But most youth players within the club are victims of the club’s success. I would suggest that many within the ranks would have had chances had we been in a lower division, but the quality in the Premier League is so much that to improve, the club need to spend millions rather than throw an unproven player in the mix. It even begs the question – would Anthony, Travers and Zemura have been afforded a chance if the club were never relegated? Probably not. Your Silcott-Duberry’s, your Adu-Adjei’s – would they truly be good enough for the Premier League, if not now, then ever? Probably not. So appreciate the job they did for the U-21’s, but sell them to get “pure profit” on the balance sheet, whilst they maintain high value. That might just be the way forward.

On the other hand, it is possible that given our previous stature, and lack of first class facilities, that players were poached from within our system, and that trying to encourage younger, high quality players to join was much more difficult. But the incredible new ‘performance centre’, and Andoni Iraola’s trust in young players, has helped no end to encourage players to join our ever-growing football club.

This summer, 16 year old Harry Webb joined from Spurs, rejecting offers from other Category 1 + 2 clubs. Despite his age, he has already played for AFCB’s U-21s. Fellow 16 year old Cornelius Akaunu had trials with Arsenal, Spurs and Wolves, attracting interest from many PL clubs, but signed for Bournemouth after leaving Liverpool. Joining in January 2024, goalkeeper Callan McKenna turned down Manchester United to join from Scottish side Queen’s Park. Talented young players are choosing Bournemouth over top sides, and this is very encouraging.

In the fantastic documentary ‘The Pathway’ (available on YouTube), it was said the aim of the academy is to produce a captain for AFC Bournemouth within the next 10 years. They have given themselves the best chance of doing this, with the monumental upgrade in facilities, enabling better to talent to join the club, and hopefully not to be poached by others. There is some way to go in terms of having players come straight through to the academy into the first team, but as recently shown with the likes of Ben Winterburn, there is a pathway.

The club will also be looking to find the next James Hill, with deals such as the one for Matai Akinmboni. Akinmboni made 13 appearances for DC United in the MLS at the age of just 17, and was bought for just £2M, to join the U-21 team for now, and hopefully in the future progress to the first team. I would expect to see many more low risk, high reward moves like this in the future with our extensive scouting network. James Hill is the benchmark for these types of signings to hit – if you can buy a player for such a low fee, let them grow in the academy, and then have them help us in the Premier League, that is incredible business. But these sorts of players do not grow on trees, and require a certain amount of nurturing and time to develop, usually helped by loans away from the club.

Seeing young players progress through the ranks at your club and watching them succeed is one of the best feelings in football. I feel confident the club are recruiting within the youth age groups well enough that we will see players rise up in the future – but with that, comes the fact we will see more deals like Silcott-Duberry’s. Nonetheless, the club is an exciting place to be at all age groups.