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When Arnaut Danjuma arrived on the south coast in 2019, he wouldn’t have been expecting to only now be finding a regular starting berth in the Bournemouth’ side.
He struggled initially to break through in his first season at the club following a £13.7 million move from Club Brugge, only making 15 appearances for the club in all competitons last season as the side were narrowly relegated to the Championship.
This ended a five-year stay in the big time for the Cherries, but Danjuma was one of a number of players to benefit from this indirectly.
The likes of Callum Wilson and Ryan Fraser moved on in the summer, while Josh King wasn’t as involved as he had been previously, allowing the 24-year-old to be a key part of Jason Tindall’s side as the team prepared for a season in the Championship.
To underline how important he has been for the club this season, he has already made more appearances than the entirety of last season – featuring 17 times with over three months of the season still to go.
In the absence of the big names, who had played such a key role for the team in many of their Premier League seasons, the Dutch international made a fine start to the season, scoring twice in the opening the games – in wins against Blackburn Rovers and Norwich City.
His strong early form in front of goal continued, scoring another three times before the end of November – including in the remarkable comeback against Reading, where Tindall’s men were 2-0 down at the break before he sustained a long-term injury in the very next game against Nottingham Forest.
This resulted in the Dutch international being sidelined for just under two months, missing the busiest part of the season and only returning to the side in recent weeks in the loss against Derby County in mid-January.
Tindall often spoke before he was sacked about the importance of getting Danjuma back fit and into the side, and he showed his worth to the team once more yesterday afternoon, netting the Cherries’ opener in the 3-2 win against Birmingham City.
He was heavily involved in everything positive which the Cherries did in an attacking sense and was vital in the third goal. Firstly winning a free-kick before sending a delicious cross towards the back post which was well met by second half sub Phillip Billing to give the Cherries a massive win.
It may be ironic that the 24-year-old’s first goal since his return from injury came the game after Tindall was dismissed following a run of four consecutive defeats which has seen the club fall down to sixth place.
The forward was a vital part of the win and he was pleased to have contributed to the win after a run of poor results in recent weeks.
“I am very happy I scored again, when I came back from injury we lost a couple of games and I didn’t score so I am very happy to get us back to winning ways.“I need to be honest the free-kick, I shot it on target but I think the strike was alright because from those kinds of positions you can miss the target and somebody else will tap it in so I think I done well.“It’s not easy switching managers, you need to adapt quickly and particularly in the Championship you have no time to mourn, you need to adapt to the situation quickly, I think it’s very important we won today, I hope it gets us back onto the winning streak again and there’s a lot of positives to take forward from today.”
The former PSV man is still quite inexperienced as a player but he has shown real glimpses of what Bournemouth knew was there when they brought him to the club in 2019 and will be a key player between now and the end of the season.
Predominately featuring on the left wing, the Dutchman caused Birmingham problems all afternoon with his directness and pace both with and without the ball. He provided a constant thorn in the Blues’ defence and his performance thoroughly deserved a goal which helped complete the Cherries’ turnaround.
His ability both with and without the ball will go along way in helping Bournemouth achieve what they want to this season, and you get the sense the club know just how important he is with him very rarely missing out when he is available for selection.
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