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One to Watch: Lewis Cook is staking his claim for regular game time at Bournemouth
Lewis Cook is very good at football. Bournemouth don’t play him very much. It is upsetting. However, he did play against MK Dons in the EFL Cup and he did play very well.
Cook is a controlling midfield presence. In this game, he played as Bournemouth’s deepest midfielder and from there, pulled the strings of a comfortable performance for the Cherries.
Comfortable it truly was, Bournemouth swept through their League Two opponents with ease, but it was nonetheless an excellent chance to see Cook strut his stuff. He is so crisp in possession that it is rather disappointing that we do not get to see him more often at senior level – he had only played 14 minutes this season until this game.
“He has shown huge patches of potential throughout the season but he can get even better. I truly believe that Lewis is someone who will continue to improve and get more consistency in certain areas of his game that we have highlighted to him. We are looking forward to developing him further here.”
In contrast, he played over 2,000 minutes last season after captaining England to the Under-20 World Cup the summer before. The arrival of Jefferson Lerma, Bournemouth’s midfield depth, and their ongoing excellent league form continue to conspire against the English midfielder.
If he continues to play like he did against Mansfield though, he will get chances as the season continues, despite Bournemouth’s fine start to the campaign.
Let’s not forget, Cook is a capped England international as recently as this March – he is good. A technically excellent, robust midfielder with wonderful leadership qualities that will serve the national team and Bournemouth well in the years ahead.