According to Bournemouth Echo, 21-year-old centre-back Jack Simpson has been linked with a loan move to Scottish giants Rangers. However, manager Eddie Howe has made it clear that the youngster is too important to be loaned out (h/t Bournemouth Echo).
Simpson is yet to make his bow in the Premier League this season but he has featured in a couple of League Cup fixtures for the Cherries. In fact, he played the full ninety minutes in the 3-2 victory over Blackburn Rovers in the third round.
Let us get a deeper insight into one of the most promising young centre-backs in the Premier League – Bournemouth’s Jack Simpson.
A product of AFC Bournemouth’s youth system, Simpson joined the academy of his hometown club at the age of 8 in 2005. He went on to sign his first professional contract in 2015, following which he was loaned out to non-league Hampshire-based club AFC Totton in the latter part of the 2015/16 season.
Simpson made his first-team competitive debut for the Cherries in 2017 and scored in the 3-1 victory over Middlesbrough in the League Cup. He has featured in this year’s Carabao Cup on two occasions.
Simpson hasn’t played much competitive football for Bournemouth and has largely been present in the squad as an understudy to the senior players.
From the little that we have seen of him so far, it is easy to deduce that Simpson is good in the air and often uses his 6ft 2 inches frame to good effect on both sides of the pitch. While he is adept at getting into good positions at the back and dominating the opposition with his physicality and aerial abilities, he can also get into the opposition’s penalty area during set-piece situations and score goals with his head.
He is pretty good with the ball at his feet and does not hesitate to pass the ball around in his own half. Furthermore, he has shown good levels of confidence and composure at the back and does not dive into reckless challenges.
He needs to work more on his positioning and situational awareness to become a top-class defender but those are attributes that he must develop as his career progresses.
Simpson has caught the eye of Rangers’ manager Steven Gerrard with his performances in the League Cup and he could be on his way to the Ibrox in January. In fact, the move should help him receive exposure to top flight-football on a more regular basis.
He is still in the developmental stage of his career and he needs regular minutes to flourish. But given his talents, Simpson deserves to make an appearance in the Premier League at some point this season.