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“It might have put another five million onto his price tag.”
Jason Tindall’s retort to another Josh King question briefly provided a light-hearted interlude to a saga that’s becoming protracted and rather tedious.
In football, things reach their natural end. A football cycle can prove to be prosperous at its best and profusely stale at its worst.
Eddie Howe thought something similar when he bid a final farewell to his fairtytale club at the the beginning of the season. A transition had to happen, a fresh injection into a wilting institution.
Football’s cyclical structure is now repeating its very final stage with Josh King, Bournemouth’s leading scorer during their five season Premier League tenure.
It was the 73rd minute and King had finally found some solace in watching his downward header eventually bundled over the line. Despite the goal effectively sealing his side’s passage into the fourth round, there were muted celebrations. While it is not unusual to witness players dim down their celebrations and lack the panache due to the fan-less stadiums, there was a jarring difference in teammates audible celebrations to that of the actual goalscorer.
In fairness, it was King’s first goal since Bournemouth’s final Premier League game against Everton. Perhaps it was a sign of relief given how shorn of confidence he appeared at times in the first half and the futile goalscoring trail run he had previously trodden. Or just maybe, it was something a little more profound.
It was a celebration indicative of an incredulous break-up, where a relationship – once warming and loving – now looked loveless and in protracted limbo. The manner in which he departed the Vitality so soon after the the full time whistle further enforced the notion of this current kinship being a marriage of pure convenience, as opposed to anything else.
In the 85th minute he struck again, with a lot more purpose and cleaner execution in the strike. It was an emphatic finish where King displayed the genuine Premier League qualities the club and he himself knows he has. The conclusive finish was followed by the same subdued celebration.
It was rather telling that King was bypassed for the captain’s armband three times on the day. When starting skipper Dan Gosling was subbed at the break, Jack Stacey rather than King was handed the armband. If there was already a penny for his thoughts, then he soon had to comprehend with being overlooked for a third time. Adam Smith took the place of Stacey and swiftly obtained the captain’s honour.
Despite admitting he and King wouldn’t exactly “go for a pint together,” Stacey spoke in glowing terms of his teammate afterwards, dismissing suggestions that King has been ‘sulking’ due to being unable to get a move elsewhere ahead of the Championship season. “We would love him to stay,” said the second captain of the day, then going on to reveal that he personally hadn’t seen a change in the Norway international’s demeanour.
But even those inside the club refuse to mask the breaking down of relationship between the two parties. There can be no getting away from the fact that their long-standing relationship has ran its course. This was no more evident than during the preludes to the campaign, when King’s eminent number 7 shirt was handed to David Brooks, with himself taking 27 – a possible reflection of his current standing within the squad.
Against Oldham, King’s double were the eventual rewards for a frustrating, mostly fruitless first 70 minutes, where the forward worked hard but regularly cut a solitary figure. There could be no complaints in regards to the 28-year-old’s application or industry; after all, he continued to run in-behind and work the the oceans of space in the channels. He would also provide a perpetual outlet for the ball into his feet.
But things weren’t clicking. Heavy touches, stuttering decision making and misplaced flicks meant flashes of individual quality were often interspersed with periods on the game’s periphery. Confidence looked understandably low and played within himself at times.
With Bournemouth planning for life after Josh King, it was no surprise that Jason Tindall’s set-up the team in a system that doesn’t usually prove conducive to the forward’s strengths. Leading the line as an archetypal number 9, King appeared isolated with no strike partner that has long dovetailed his Cherries career in close proximity. The days of King and Callum Wilson clicking and moving in flawless synchronisation were now gone.
“It was important Josh played and got good minutes under his belt,” said Tindall in the post-match press conference, fully aware of the glut of King questions that were set to come his way. “He started off slow but got into it as the game went on. It was a really good afternoon for Josh King.”
With King’s current deal expiring in June, reports in recent days have linked him to a move away. West Ham, West Brom and Torino are just a handful of clubs that have been mentioned. “Unless someone tells me otherwise I’m happy to have Josh King at the football club. Kingy showed what he was capable of second half.
“I can’t question how he’s trained and how he’s been. All you can focus on is the now and that’s what Josh has done. The speculation has been there for last few days. He was eager to play, he was keen to play.”
Aside from his ostensible appearance change, with King now plumping for bleach blonde locks, reminiscent of Eminem’s early ‘Slim Shady’ days, the striker’s availability has also proved to be vastly different. In the Championship this season, the former Manchester United and Blackburn player has featured in just eight games, at a starting rate of 14 percent. This equates to playing just 19 percent of the team’s overall minutes.
Mitigating, untimely factors haven’t helped King to wrestle any momentum back either. He has largely missed the rest of the games because of various injury setbacks, with a troublesome thigh and niggling back injury blighting an already stammering campaign. King has also suffered migraines and the repercussions of COVID-19, in which he was forced to self-isolate after contracting the virus while on international duty with Norway. In October, King said it had been the worst two months of his life.
“Honestly, I don’t know what’s going to happen. There’s a lot that’s happened. I could have written a book about what’s happened the last two months and it had definitely become a bestseller.”If I’m to be honest, it’s been the two worst months of my life. But I can’t give a reason.”
“If it had been up to me,” King told Norway’s TV2, “I would have already signed for a club and started the season, played four games and been in top form. If you’d asked me two months ago if I thought I’d be in Bournemouth after what I’ve been promised, I’d have answered 110 per cent ‘no’.”
Having been the club’s top scorer in their best top-flight finishes (16 league goals in 2016-17 and eight league goals in 2017-18), there can be little doubt over how integral a cog King had been during their Premier League stay. Eddie Howe took a gamble in bringing a misfiring Championship striker from Blackburn and transforming him into a bonafide Premier League goalscorer.
But with King changing agents three times in the past 18 months, there is a visible imprudence to seek a move. Though Tindall and Stacey can both attest to King’s steadfast attitude throughout the saga, there can be disguising his unhappiness in staying on the Dorset coast. Changing your representatives so often and so swiftly is simply indicative of a player desperate to move on.
Bournemouth were hoping to receive £30 million for King at the beginning of 2020, but are now under pressure to secure a selling free for a player whose contract expires in five months. King can already begin negotiating a pre-contract with teams in January over a free transfer next summer.
King could not disguise the crux of the most pressing matters close to him. Not even the feeling of scoring two provided any fleeting sense of solace.
Whatever happens in the convening months, Josh King and Bournemouth have been good to each other. It’s been a relationship built on spirit, hardwork and an ambitious ascension into the Premier League.
But like most sporting relationships, particularly in football, a sad, meandering end must follow. The end of Josh King and Bournemouth will come to its inevitable conclusion, but neither party can take away the special, wholesome memories they once shared.
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