Name: David Brooks

Club: Bournemouth

Age: 8 July 1997

Position: Winger (Right)/Midfielder

David Brooks - his career so far

At the age of 22, David Brooks can already boast with a pretty colourful career to date. The versatile attacking-minded ace is currently a part of Bournemouth’s first-team squad but has had his fair share of transfers, loans and various spell elsewhere before he finally settled at his current club.

Brooks’ first exposure to football and what would eventually open a pathway for him towards the big leagues was actually his stay at Manchester City’s academy when he was aged just seven. But in 2014, he already swapped shirts and joined Sheffield United, signing his first professional contract with the club the following year.

After spending some time in their U18 squad, Brooks quickly became part of the senior team, tallying 37 appearances for them and scoring three goals while also assisting further eight on the side as well.

We should also mention that there was an extremely short loan spell mushed in between his performances for Sheffield United as he recorded five appearances for FC Halifax Town between August and September 2015, scoring and assisting one goal in the process.

He ended up joining his current team, Bournemouth, in the summer of 2018 and has been at the club ever since. So far, he can boast with a total of 33 appearances with seven goals and five assists to his name as well.

Unfortunately, a large portion of the 2019/20 season has been a bust for the young player as a serious ankle injury sidelined him for a total of 35 games, basically derailing the whole campaign for both him and his club in the process.

But with football being put on hold anyway, he will get the time to heal and come back stronger once life also gets back to normal.

Transfer latest

There have been some transfer rumours linking Brooks with a potential exit towards none other than Manchester United but it seems that, according to some reports, Bournemouth have no intention of selling their gem just yet.

But interestingly enough, that is not the only piece of transfer news surrounding the young player, which is no surprise, especially now that there’s no football and various transfer rumours are coming thick and thin.

In fact, there were some completely contrasting reports that the Cherries have seemingly changed their mind and would actually be open to letting Brooks go for the right price.

Seeing how we’re talking about a big talent who’s wanted by the likes of Tottenham Hotspur and Man United, this might not be the Bournemouth news the fans will like to see. Even though his 2019/20 was practically non-existent, losing such a big talent would undoubtedly be a big hit for the club.

Let’s see what ends up happening as he still has a valid contract until 2022.

Player profile

Unfortunately, with his long-term ankle injury, Brooks’ 2019/20 season has been completely scrapped, leaving him with some minutes in the pre-season tournament leading up to the new campaign back in the summer of 2019.

For that reason, we’ll have to focus on his 2018/19 season with Bournemouth and build his player profile according to that. His first season with the Cherries was still a very successful one since Brooks managed to present himself as a great finisher and a lethal presence in the opposition’s box.

Seven goals and five assists can attest to that statement and he seemed to be fairly selective in his shooting, often opting to let loose only when presented with a good opportunity to actually rattle the inside of the opposition’s net, as evidenced by only 1.71 shots per 90 minutes last season.

Brooks is also quite creative and technical on the ball, averaging 5.06 dribbles and 1.62 through balls per 90 minutes in 2018/19. He has a tendency of cutting inside and acting as more of an inverted winger, pulling defenders out of their shape and swapping places with his teammates.

This makes him tactically flexible as he is not chained to one specific area of the pitch, as also demonstrated by the fact he can be deployed on numerous different positions, both in wide and central areas.