Championship promotion challengers Southampton have agreed a deal to sign AFC Bournemouth winger David Brooks on loan, according Fabrizio Romano.
Brooks spent 10 years at Manchester City as a youngster before moving to Sheffield United when he was 17. He spent a year in the youth team before making a handful of cup appearances for the Blades and heading out on loan to Halifax Town in the 2016/17 season.
The 2017/18 season was Brooks’ breakout year as he made 30 appearances and registered eight goal contributions as the team from Bramall Lane returned to the Championship.
This led to Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth purchasing Brooks for a fee of around £9.5 million and the Welshman was an instant sensation in the Premier League. He made league 30 appearances for the Cherries in the 2018/19 season, scoring seven times and providing five assists.
Unfortunately, the Welsh international’s momentum was halted in the following season after an ankle injury suffered in preseason led to Brooks being ruled out for eight months.
However, Bournemouth’s number seven re-gained his best form in the following season, registering 11 goal contributions in 32 league appearances in the Cherries’ first season back in the Championship.
The 26-year-old was diagnosed with stage two Hodgkin Lymphoma in October 2021 and this kept him out of action until May 2022 when he was declared cancer free.
He has made 18 appearances in all competitions for Andoni Iraola’s side this season, scoring three times and providing three assists, although most of his contributions have been from the bench.
Southampton are chasing instant promotion back to the Premier League and currently in third, just one point behind second-placed Ipswich Town in the final automatic promotion spot. Brooks represents the Saints’ second loan signing from Bournemouth this month having acquired midfielder Joe Rothwell until the end of the campaign.
Writer’s View
The move will mean that Russell Martin has even more quality available to him in attack, and Brooks might be seen as the final piece of the puzzle after the Saints missed out on signing Fabio Carvalho earlier in the window.
The winger is proven at Championship level and he will hope to outcompete the likes of Adam Armstrong, Ryan Fraser and Sam Edozie in order to get regular minutes, which he hasn’t had since before his health problems.
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