Bournemouth

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Bournemouth owner Bill Foley hopes to increase the Vitality Stadium's capacity to approximately 20,500 according to plans submitted to Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council.

It currently holds 11,286, so the increase of up to 9,215 seats will occur from demolishing the existing South Stand to build a new grandstand and by expanding the North and East stands.

The plan - available on the BCP Council planning website, external - also shows how additional seats will be made by infilling all four stadium corners.

Bournemouth agreed a deal to buy the stadium back from Structadene in April, 20 years after they sold it to the property company to avoid going into administration.

Foley was keen to redevelop the stadium as building a new stadium would have taken five or six years.

There are also plans to modernise the facility with new perimeter fencing and relocated turnstiles, a new ticket office and fan zone and additional hospitality space.

Bournemouth plan hold a public exhibition at Vitality Stadium on Monday, 21 July between 15:30 and 20:00 BST.

Bournemouth are aware of Everton's interest in goalkeeper Mark Travers, who boosted his reputation with an impressive loan spell at Middlesbrough in the Championship last season. (Sky Sports), external

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The BBC's search to find a new football expert is under way, with 12 content creators competing in Last Pundit Standing to win a role as BBC Sport's next football content creator.

The first two episodes of the show - co-hosted by former Watford captain Troy Deeney and YouTuber and football presenter James Allcott - are available to watch on iPlayer, as well as BBC Sport's YouTube channel and TikTok account, with new episodes every week until 11 August.

The contestants, who were chosen from more than 400 applicants, will be whittled down through a series of tasks staged at iconic football locations as the creators are challenged by some of the biggest names in the game.

Read more about the show here

Watch the first two episodes of Last Pundit Standing now on BBC iPlayer

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Bournemouth's first-team players returned to the training centre over the weekend as pre-season testing took place.

There were plenty of smiles despite the intensive programme Andoni Iraola and his team have put together.

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Bournemouth's newest signing, Adrien Truffert, says he is thrilled to have joined the club as he prepares for his first taste of Premier League football.

Truffert was signed from Rennes as a replacement for Milos Kerkez. The deal is made up of an £11.4m fee and a possible £3m in add-ons, while Rennes have negotiated a 10% sell-on clause.

"Very happy to be here," Truffert said to AFCBTV, external. "It is a very good opportunity to make my start in the Premier League in this club, so very excited and very happy to be here.

"That's why I made this choice. For me to make my start in the Premier League, it's important to come early, to get to meet my teammates, to feel good on the pitch, a lot of time to prepare to have a very good season.

"It will be my first time in the Premier League, but I've played a lot of games in Ligue 1, and it can help me a lot because it's important to have experience before playing in the Premier League. I am very excited, and I will see when I will make my start, it is one of my dreams."

Jordan Clark
BBC Radio Solent

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Antoine Semenyo's new contract was the positive news Bournemouth fans have been craving.

The elation of the Cherries' record breaking season was quickly replaced by a fear that many of their top performers would be plucked away by bigger clubs, so it will be a welcome relief that Semenyo has not followed Dean Huijsen and Milos Kerkez out the door.

Semenyo is powerful, aggressive and a huge part of the way Bournemouth play under Andoni Iraola. Losing him this summer would probably have been a bigger blow to supporter moral than the departures of Huijsen and Kerkez, who had both been expected to leave for some time.

Despite the speculation about Semenyo's future, I think there was always a quiet confidence amongst the Cherries hierarchy that their joint-top goalscorer from last season would decide to stay.

The contract is essentially just a one-year extension to the long-term deal he signed last summer but it should do enough to ward off the circling vultures for the short-term at least.

Bournemouth have developed Semenyo into one of the most dangerous attackers in the Premier League and he will undoubtedly have ambitions to play European football in the future.

The challenge for the Cherries now will be to match those ambitions.

Bournemouth face competition from Sunderland and Aston Villa for Chelsea's Serbia goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic, 25. (Times), external

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We asked for your thoughts on Antoine Semenyo signing a contract extension to keep him at the club until 2030, ending speculation he may be the latest to leave Vitality Stadium this summer.

Here are some of your replies:

Michael: Unlike the two who have left Bournemouth this summer and who are likely starters for their new clubs, I am not sure Antoine could be sure of starting every game for a so-called bigger club. By staying at Bournemouth he is pretty much guaranteed a starting place in each game and probably realises that the grass is not always greener somewhere else. He could become our Matthew Le Tissier.

Andrew: Utterly delighted.

Mark: Nice to know he's staying, a great player for us. If we can hang on to most of the other players and have some new ones come in, we'll be fine, Must admit, Bournemouth fans were getting a bit jittery with players leaving. Now, who knows? We might just be a surprise package again.

Paul: Him signing means that at least he doesn't go away for free. Would love to see him stay but football is business.

Chris: Good news re Semenyo. Now, we need to sort out the defence.

Tom McCoy
BBC Sport Journalist

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Antoine Semenyo was one of the Premier League's most dynamic players in 2024-25.

The 25-year-old was among the league's leading performers in several key attacking metrics, impressing with his direct style of play. Only Mohamed Salah and Cole Palmer attempted more shots than Semenyo, while his 69 successful dribbles was also the third-highest total in the top flight.

His confidence to shoot with either foot makes him particularly hard to handle for opposition defenders and equally comfortable on both flanks. Excluding headers, 54% of his shots last term were left-footed, five of them resulting in goals, while 46% came off his right boot, including six goals.

Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola demands aggressive pressing from his attacking players, something Semenyo embraces wholeheartedly, contesting more duels and committing more fouls than any other Premier League player in the most recent campaign.

There is room for improvement when it comes to his end product. He registered just five assists in 2024-25, while his shot conversion rate of 8.8% was also slightly below par. If he can improve on those aspects of his game, elite clubs are likely to come calling again sooner rather than later.

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Antoine Semenyo says he has "grown so much" at Bournemouth after ending speculation surrounding his future by signing a new contract extension to keep him at the club until 2030.

Semenyo had been linked with Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham this summer, but has opted to remain with the Cherries, despite the exits of team-mates Milos Kerkez to Liverpool and Dean Huijsen to Real Madrid.

The 25-year-old Ghana forward joined from Bristol City in January 2023 and registered 13 goals and seven assists last season as Andoni Iraola's side achieved a record points tally of 56 and a joint-highest Premier League finish in ninth.

He had signed a long-term contract 12 months ago.

"I've grown so much at the club, both on and off the pitch, and I'm really happy to have signed ahead of returning for pre-season," Semenyo told club media.

"From the fans to the staff and my team-mates, I can't speak highly enough of the people around the club. It's a great place to be and I'm excited to get back to Bournemouth and continue the hard work with the new season just around the corner."

President of football operations Tiago Pintom added: "Antoine has been crucial to the club's progress and is a key member of the project here at Vitality Stadium.

"We have a great relationship with Antoine and we're looking forward to continuing that as we hope to build on a record-breaking season.

"His commitment to the club matches our ambition and I'm excited to see what can be achieved."

What impact will this news have on Bournemouth's plans for the new season? How worried were you that Semenyo was going to follow Huijsen and Kerkez out of the club?

Get in touch with your thoughts here

Rangers have agreed a deal with Bournemouth for midfielder Joe Rothwell, who spent last season on loan at Leeds United in the Championship. (Sky Sports), external

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Jordan Clark
BBC Radio Solent

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It's a big blow for Bournemouth to lose Milos Kerkez but they've known this was probably coming for some time and have prepared well for his departure by signing left-backs Julio Soler and Adrien Truffert before they've allowed the Hungarian international to leave.

The £40m represents another strong profit for the Cherries too and looks like good business when you consider the £31m Manchester City have just paid for Rayan Ait-Nouri.

I'm sure it will hurt some fans that Richard Hughes has come back to Bournemouth to take Kerkez to Liverpool but I think it was inevitable that he was going to leave and if it wasn't the Reds then it would have probably been another top European club that came in for him.

It's been a pleasure to watch Kerkez develop over the last two years and he is now rightly one of the most expensive left-back's in the world. He'll be a significant loss to the Cherries defensively and in attack. He did take a season to find his feet in the Premier League though and I'm not sure Bournemouth can afford that with his replacement. Truffert is a few years older at 23 and I'm sure the hope will be that his extra experience and style of play will mean he can hit the ground running next season.

Listen to more analysis on the latest episode of Cherries: Unpicked

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Bournemouth are on a "fine line" in building a future whereby talented players don't view the club as a stepping stone.

That's the view of former player Joe Partington during a summer in which Dean Huijsen has left for Real Madrid and Milos Kerkez is bound for Liverpool.

On the latest episode of Cherries: Unpicked, Partington said: "Bournemouth have reached a certain level now where a lot of teams in Europe want to come and take those players.

"The difficult thing the club have got to do now is sign players that do very, very well but then want to stay at Bournemouth and continue to do well and don't necessarily see it as a place where they might be able to go onto greater things afterwards.

"I suppose that Huijsen and Kerkez have paved the way now for players to believe they can come to Bournemouth and do well and that the training ground and facilities are now at a certain level that players at the top of the game want to come and be involved in that.

"But they do have to be very careful that all they're doing is not basically nurturing players for other teams and that these players are consistently contributing to the success of the football club.

"It's a fine line that the club are on at the moment between success and maybe not having players to recreate that season upon season. Obviously it's a big job the guys at the club have got who manage that process to try and sustain a certain level of consistency."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

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A new episode of BBC Radio Solent's Cherries: Unpicked podcast is available on BBC Sounds.

The team chat the latest on Bournemouth's transfer business, including Milos Kerkez, Adrien Truffert, Illia Zabarnyi and Daniel Jebbison.

Listen to the full episode here

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport football news reporter

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Liverpool are advancing talks to sign defender Milos Kerkez for a fee of around £40m-£45m.

Sources with knowledge of the situation say that the talks have yet to complete but there is expectation from all parties that the Hungary left-back will soon move to Anfield on a long-term deal.

Bournemouth have already signed his replacement Adrien Truffert from Rennes.

Meanwhile, Kerkez's father was quoted as saying "personal terms have been agreed, we just need to sort out some details but that is basically a done deal" to Hungarian outlet Blic, external.

Kerkez started all 38 Premier League matches, contributing two goals and six assists for Bournemouth as they recorded their a club-record 56 points in the Premier League, finishing ninth in the process.

Kerkez has made 23 appearances for Hungary and previously played for Gyor and AZ Alkmaar while also having a spell at AC Milan without making a senior appearance.

The reigning Premier League champions have also agreed a £116m deal to sign Germany international Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen.