Lloyd Kelly says Bournemouth transfer was a 'no brainer'

Bournemouth's new signing Lloyd Kelly says his £13m move from Bristol City was a 'no brainer' ahead of his first season in the Premier League.

The 20-year-old became Bournemouth's first signing of the season in May when he arrived from Bristol City following a breakthrough season in which he made 32 appearances for his boyhood club.

Kelly revealed that it was an easy decision to move to the Premier League club after speaking to his fellow England U21 internationals ahead of the European U21 Championships.

He told Sky Sports News: "It was a no brainer to go there.

"I'm buzzing, it was always a dream of mine to play in the Premier League no matter what club, especially this club, they play exciting football. I spoke to few players there at the moment, Dominic Solanke, Lewis Cook, and they said it's a great place."

Eddie Howe played an instrumental role in getting Kelly to go to the Cherries due to his faith in bringing young players through and the defender is looking forward to working with him.

He added: "I just want to get as many games as I can under my belt and make sure I do progress and after speaking with the manager he said to me 'it's your responsibility, but at the same time it's my responsibility to push you as much as I can and make you develop as a player'.

"I'm still young and developing as a player and as a person so I feel like this is probably the best move for me, so I'm looking forward to it."

Kelly can play either centre-back or left-back as he looks to establish himself in the Premier League and he believes the Championship has given him a good start to his senior career.

Kelly said: "It's always good to play those two positions and I'll play wherever I'm needed to play really but I do see myself settling down in a centre role as my career develops.

"I feel like the Championship is probably the hardest league in the world of football because you can't expect any game to go the way you want it to go.

"It helps you learn and I feel like it's probably put me in good stead to go into the Premier League."

Before he joins up with Bournemouth, Kelly will be looking to play an important role for England in the European U21 Championships in his first major tournament at international level.

He said: "We are a strong group, we've won many things and although I've only been in the England setup for 12-15 months now I've adjusted to how they play.

"There's always expectation coming off the back of past tournaments coming away with many trophies. We just relish the expectation and go out there and do our best."

England open their campaign against France on June 18, live on Sky Sports, before remaining group fixtures against Romania and Croatia, but Kelly thinks France will be a real test for the young side.

"I think France are probably the toughest opponent that we may come up against over the past 12 months but at the same time you can't rule out anyone in major tournament because anything can happen.

"We need to go into every game, do our best and get the win."