MAX GRADEL: Will he stay or will he go?

By Tales From The South End - July, 17th 2017

Forever remembered (at TFTSE Towers) for his penalty tussle with Brett Pitman against Barrow in the FA Cup back in 2007, it seems that Max Gradel can’t quite decide whether he should stay or go.

Is he waiting for a better offer than going back to the Championship? Is he homesick and wants to go back to France? Or, has he finally realised that he is approaching 30 and needs to knuckle down and get in the best team that he will be playing in over the next season, and maybe beyond.

He was welcomed back with open arms, by pretty much every AFC Bournemouth supporter (including us) back in August 2015. He was playing a starring role in Ligue 1 with Saint-Etienne, scoring goals for fun and was coming back to a club that he had a strong affinity with. His second spell at AFC Bournemouth got off to a bright start most notably his performance against West Ham in that 4-3 win.

But, we at The South End, while big fans of Maxi have never been quite sure about his temperament. He gives the impression that he’s his own man, something of a maverick, who struggles to fit into the team ethos. This isn’t a problem when you are brilliant, but while he’s good, he’s not good enough to do what the f**k he likes. He needs to stick to his task and work for the team. Something we struggled to see. Perhaps this is what led him to being dropped.

MAX, MAKE YOUR MIND UP WILL YOU

His indecision is frustrating. ‘Nobody likes me, Eddie’s not playing me, I think I ‘ll go somewhere else’. ‘Nobody wants me (well apart from a Championship team and I’m too good for them), perhaps I’ll make more of an effort’. After scoring a goal against Estoril his thoughts are now back on staying at AFC Bournemouth “I have a good feeling about this season so aim to keep working hard and make sure I keep doing well”, he told the official site.

But what happens when Eddie decides not to play him, will he get all sulky again? And, with unsubstantiated rumours that Eddie Howe is once again showing interest in Demarai Gray (where the f**k do these rumours come from) he better buck up his ideas, get his head down and start producing on the pitch. We are just not sure that that is going to happen.