Rumour Mill-Symes Likely or Not?

Clarets fans will always now be suspicious of rumours linking Burnley with a move for Cherries players. Eddie Howe's connection with his former club will always give the media a sloppy excuse to say we are interested in any of the Bournemouth players whether we are or not.

Relationships also seem fraught between the two clubs after Cherries chairman, Eddie Mitchell accused Burnley FC of an 'underhand and unprofessional' approach for their former chief scout, Des Taylor something which the club strenuously denied recently via an official club statement on their website.

You would think therefore now that any further approach by Burnley for one of their players would be folly and likely to be dismissed out of hand.

It is perhaps therefore surprising that we continue to be linked with Cherries players.

The latest today is AFC Bournemouth striker, Michael Symes. Some posters from Vital Bournemouth appear to be reporting that we have made a £600,000 bid for the 27 year old, 6ft 3' forward although the media source of this speculation remains unclear.

Symes came through Everton's youth system after joining them as an eleven year old in 1994. He signed his first professional contract for the Toffees in 2002 but never made his first team debut during the two years as a senior pro with the club thanks to a succession of injuries. Indeed he only made three appearances in the Reserves during his ten years at Goodison Park.

In March 2004, he joined Crewe Alexandra on loan for the rest of the 2003-04 season but could not secure a permanent contract. Instead he moved to League 1 Bradford City in July 2004 but spent a lot of his time out on loan which included spells at Macclesfield Town, Stockport County and Shrewsbury Town. He then moved permanently to Shrewsbury during the 2006 summer transfer window.

More loans followed for the journeyman and he played for Macclesfield Town again, Bournemouth and Accrington Stanley on loan during his time at Shrewsbury.

He made his move to Accrington Stanley permanent in July 2009 and at long last seemed to settle down scoring 13 goals in 41 league appearances.

Eddie Howe though then signed him for Bournemouth in June 2010 after Symes turned down Accy's offer of a new contract.

He however injured his shoulder that season and that limited his appearances although he did manage to score 7 goals in 18 games for the Cherries.

So would Eddie Howe be tempted to bring his former player to Turf Moor? The big question again is whether we need another striker on the books. It does not seem a high priority unless of course one or more of our current strikers could be leaving. Pato has been linked with a move to Portsmouth and the latest gossip today suggests Chris Iwelumo is a Watford target.

I don't personally believe there is one iota of truth in the Symes rumour but we shall see.

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