Bournemouth chairman makes encouraging admission regarding the future of £50m Newcastle target

Bournemouth owner Bill Foley has admitted that he 'will not stand in the way' of any player who wishes to leave the club this summer which should be music to Eddie Howe's ears.

The Toon boss has been linked to a number of his former players, including English striker Dominic Solanke who is enjoying his best ever season in the Premier League.

The 27-year-old has scored 16 goals in the Premier League this season, the fourth highest behind Erling Haaland, Ollie Watkins and Mo Salah.

It is understood that Bournemouth are willing to listen to offers over £50million for the former England international.

Image: Sky Sports

Howe signed Solanke at Bournemouth

Newcastle boss Howe brought Solanke to the South Coast after three years at Liverpool. He joined the Cherries for a reported £18m in 2019. Since then, he has gone on to play 209 games, scoring 74 goals.

Although Foley didn't directly mention Solanke when asked about transfer decisions by Sky Sports News, he admitted he would not get in the way of players that wanted to leave the club this summer.

"I don’t think you can stand in the way of a player if he wants to move on and go in a different direction. Foley said.

“We have a really good team, a team that is really motivated to becoming a team, as opposed to a group of individuals.

"If we can keep on doing that, as we move on this season, next season and the season after, we’ll be successful. We knew we had to invest to stay up, and we knew in the summer we had to invest. We have some really good players and we tried to not have players move on in the last window.

A few may move on this summer and that means we have to bring in some other new players."

Lloyd Kelly is also on Newcastle's radar

The 25-year-old hasn't featured a great deal under Andoni Iraola this season, but he has still done enough to impress his former boss Howe.

Kelly's contract expires in the summer, and Newcastle are keen to bring him in on a free transfer.

The central defender has made 17 Premier League appearances this season but has failed to get consistent game time due to several injuries which have kept him out of action for a chunk of the season.