Thursday 14 January 2016 15:39, UK
Bournemouth have signed Wolves striker Benik Afobe for an undisclosed fee, believed to be a club record of more than £8m.
Afobe passed a medical and the deal was finalised on Sunday after the clubs agreed a fee on Friday to surpass the reported £8m fee the Cherries paid Ipswich Town for defender Tyrone Mings last summer.
The 22-year-old, who has signed a four-and-a-half year deal, came through the youth ranks at Arsenal and had seven spells on loan from the Premier League club, who he did not make a senior appearance for.
Afobe scored 19 goals for the MK Dons in League One during the first half of the 2014-15 season before he was allowed to join Wolves on a permanent basis in January 2015 for around £2m.
His fine scoring form continued over the rest of the campaign, as he netted a further 13 goals in 21 appearances in the Sky Bet Championship, and 10 more goals have come so far this season.
"I'm delighted. It's been a long time coming and I am just very thankful the manager has given me this chance and opportunity to be at this Premier League club and I can't wait to get going," Afobe said on the club's official website.
"I have done a lot for someone that's only 22. I've had injuries, I've been out on loan to six different clubs, so I've played for a lot of different clubs in my young career so far.
"I've learned a lot definitely - good things and bad things - and I'm just going to take it all on board and keep improving while I'm here at Bournemouth. The manager here is a young manager so he obviously understands how young players think. He just wants to get the best out of me and that's what I want to do."
Speaking to the Bournemouth Echo, Howe added: "We feel this is a very good deal for the long-term future of the club.
"We are trying to look to the future and have signed a player who we believe will get better with us and, hopefully, stay here for many years. You could go through our squad and pick 80 per cent of players who hadn't done it until they had been with us.
"You need to give players an opportunity and a chance to prove they can or can't do it. "We could easily go the other route and sign players who have done it but are potentially past their best. But I don't think that is the right way for this club to go."
