Ryan Christie responds to Enes Unal’s cryptic Bournemouth injury update
Bournemouth head into next season off the back of their best ever Premier League campaign despite a series of serious injuries.
Andoni Iraola‘s reputation continues to grow on the south coast after his Cherries side won 56 points to record a ninth-placed Premier League finish, in a season which also saw them mount a European charge.
The Cherries have already seen several of their key players cherry-picked by other clubs this summer, with on-loan goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga returning to Chelsea before a £5million switch to Arsenal.
Bournemouth’s goalkeeping stocks had depleted further in the wake of Dean Huijsen and Milos Kerkez’s departures to Real Madrid and Liverpool respectively, as Iraola attempts to navigate a difficult summer.
Enes Unal posts cryptic injury update at Bournemouth
Iraola’s ability to take Bournemouth to another level will be tested this summer, but he did so last season despite losing some key players to injury throughout the campaign, some of which were season-ending.
Enes Unal tore his ACL in training back in January to bring his campaign to an early end, while stand-in captain Ryan Christie couldn’t shake off a long-standing injury and required surgery at the start of April.
Unal‘s journey back to fitness is progressing and he posted on Instagram (15 July) with an image of himself running alongside the similarly injury-hit Luis Sinisterra at Bournemouth’s training ground.
Christie was one of several Cherries players to respond to Unal and commented with four ‘flames’ emojis beneath the Turk’s post, which said: “You can’t control the wind but you can adjust your sails”.
Bournemouth rebuild needs to ramp up as exits continue
Football Insider Verdict
Iraola squeezed plenty of quality out of Bournemouth’s threadbare squad last season, but the departures of key men like Kepa, Huijsen and Kerkez could prove difficult to find replacements of a similar level.
Adrien Truffert’s arrival plugs the gap left by the latter and Bournemouth have announced the signing of another Chelsea keeper in Djordje Petrovic, but further reinforcements will also be needed this summer.
The Cherries’ injury list simply must shrink significantly next season if they are to take the next step into Europe, as Unal, Christie and Sinisterra all look to come back stronger from their respective lay-offs.