CHERRIES are unlikely to exercise their option to sign permanently Juan Iturbe, the Daily Echo understands.

Iturbe became the club’s first signing in the January transfer window when he arrived on loan from Italian outfit Roma.

Cherries paid a fee of around £1.1million to bring the 22-year-old to Dorset and he was named in Eddie Howe’s squad for the second half of the Premier League season.

As part of the deal, Cherries also had the option to make permanent the move this summer, with a fee in the region of £16m having been reported.

However, although the winger scored a couple of hat-tricks for the under-21s, he was restricted to two substitute appearances in the Premier League and two starts in the FA Cup.

He came off the bench in Cherries’ 3-1 defeat by West Ham in January and in the 3-1 reverse at the hands of Stoke in February.

Iturbe started Cherries’ FA Cup third round win at Portsmouth and the fourth round defeat by Everton but was substituted in both games.

He recently linked up with the Paraguay squad to begin preparations for this summer’s Copa America and is not expected to return to Vitality Stadium.