Bright Osayi-Samuel is one of the most exciting young talents in the Championship (Getty Images)
According to claims from The Sun journalist Alan Nixon, Bournemouth are currently running the rule over QPR winger Bright Osayi-Samuel ahead of a potential transfer before the domestic deadline.
It has been claimed that the Cherries could move for the 22-year-old if they opt to add another wide attacker to Jason Tindall’s squad, with Osayi-Samuel having only one year left to run on his current deal at Loftus Road.
Born in Nigeria, Bright Osayi-Samuel migrated to England at the age of 10 and started his footballing education at Blackpool. He made his senior debut in the Championship during the 2014-15 campaign and went on to accumulate 5 goals and 6 assists in 79 appearances before departing for QPR in the summer of 2017.
Osayi-Samuel only played a bit-part role in his first two seasons at QPR before establishing himself as a regular starter for the West London club under the stewardship of Mark Warburton last season.
The 22-year-old bagged 6 goals and 9 assists in 40 appearances across all competitions for the R’s last term, with his impressive returns in the second-tier attracting interest from Crystal Palace as well as Belgian giants Club Brugge.
Bournemouth raised plenty of cash from player sales this summer following their relegation from the Premier League at the end of last season. The Cherries pocketed a handsome windfall by offloading the likes of Nathan Ake, Aaron Ramsdale and Callum Wilson but they didn’t really bring in replacements for their departed stars.
Jason Tindall’s side grabbed the headlines with the acquisition of highly-rated winger Rodrigo Riquelme on a season-long loan deal from Atletico Madrid before the international deadline. However, they should be open to the prospect of adding more players to their forward line, especially in the wide areas, ahead of the domestic deadline on October 16.
With Ryan Fraser no longer in the mix, Arnaut Danjuma Groeneveld has stepped into the Scotsman’s shoes in the Championship this season. Tindall also has the likes of David Brooks and Junior Stanislas as feasible options on the flanks, but with the latter having his fair share of injury problems, the Cherries could find themselves short of quality cover moving forward.
To that end, a potential deal for Bright Osay-Samuel would put Bournemouth in a good position to cope with the challenge of a 46-game marathon in the Championship. The Nigeria-born winger was unplayable at times for QPR in the second-tier last season while he also produced decent numbers in terms of goals and assists.
Suffice to say, it is a no-brainer that Bright Osayi-Samuel is good enough to add more depth, quality, and cutting-edge to Bournemouth’s attack as the Cherries bid to secure promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
The 22-year-old is not the finished article just yet but has already shown the potential to make the step up to the Premier League moving forward. Hence, Bournemouth can certainly afford to look at him as an excellent long-term signing, keeping in mind their goals of returning to the top-flight at the earliest.