What will Joe Rothwell bring to Cherries? Expert insight on club's latest recruit

The 27-year-old came through the ranks at Manchester United before moving to Oxford United and then Rovers in 2018, where he remained for four years.

Cherries attempted to sign Rothwell, for a fee understood to be around £3million, in January, but no deal could be struck.

To get a bit more of an insight into the midfielder Cherries have added to their ranks, including his attributes on the pitch, his character off it and the January transfer speculation, we spoke with Lancashire Telegraph's Blackburn Rovers reporter Rich Sharpe.

Rothwell is known for his dribbling ability

Were Blackburn fans sad to see Rothwell leave after four years at Ewood Park?

I think it’s been difficult since January really. There was a lot of talk of ‘Bournemouth are doing it to unsettle Rovers’ and while there was potentially a bit of that, the offer was very fair, for a player with six months left of their contract.

But it just came so late in the window really, they just had not given them any room to move.

Joe missed a game at Luton, on January 29, two days before. He did an interview the club afterwards saying he was fully focused on the final games. And to be fair to him, he didn’t slack.

It was just part of a team that were really struggling for points in the second half of the season.

I think it was pretty clear from a while off that he was going to be leaving and wouldn’t be signing a new contract. We’ve just got to this point now when it’s happened, but Rovers are getting nothing for him and he leaves on a free transfer.

I think they’d kind of come to terms with it a long way off, that this was going to happen and it will just be a closing of that chapter really.

When he first signed it was a really weird one. It was one of those where when you don’t play, there’s some intrigue around you. He was the one that fans were calling for, ‘where’s Rothwell? Play him more’. It wasn’t until his third season when he finally began to start more regularly.

They changed formation in the Project Restart games after COVID, and starting playing more with a midfield three.

That’s where Rothwell had been long asking to play really, more centrally. He’d played a lot in the first few years wide left in a 4-2-3-1, whereas I think he prefers to play on the outside of a central midfield three.

But interestingly for the last season at Rovers he played a lot deeper. He was playing more as a midfield two, they played a 5-2-3 and Rothwell was one of the two ‘holding’ or deeper midfielders.

But it still gave him that ability, with three centre-backs, to drive through the middle of the pitch with the ball, which is his strength.

It’s quite unique in that. He can eliminate players just by running with the ball. He’s one of them who seems like he can run as fast, if not faster, with the ball than without. That’s his real trademark to be honest.

Cherries have signed Joe Rothwell (Picture: AFC Bournemouth)

Having stepped up from League One into the Championship, is he now ready for the Premier League?

Are you ever really for the Premier League? It’s one of them. It’s the trajectory really.

He came through at Man United, took the decision to leave, left Oxford at the end of his contract there, so he’s done the same at Rovers after four years and he probably felt he’d done what he could with Rovers. They finished eighth last year, which was the highest they finished since they were relegated from the Premier League 10 years ago and probably just looking for a fresh challenge.

I know he said in January his decision would be around his family. He’s got two young kids, just got married so probably feels he’s at the time in his life where he’s ready for the next stage in his career. That’s going to be Bournemouth and it will be interesting to see where he does fit in, how much he plays.

He said the one question mark around him always used to be goals and assists. He’s a weird player because you get these people who look at his metrics and his successful dribbles and stuff like that, he’s way out in front on things like that for a player in his position.

But again a lot of people judge midfielders by 'can you score goals? Can you create goals? Can you stop goals?' And he’s not really one for stopping goals and his record for scoring has not been particularly great!

I think he got 10 assists last year. Quite a few of those were set pieces. He started being on set pieces, although not the best.

It was probably a bit more needs must at Rovers, they didn’t really have anybody. I don’t know who takes them for Bournemouth, but if they’ve got a set piece taker, I don’t think they need to be worried about Rothwell coming in and taking them over! But the majority of his assists last year were from set plays. But that was the first year where his numbers for assists were good.

Ability wise, I class him as he’s got Premier League ability, the quality of running with the ball, technical ability, he is Premier League quality. It is just whether he has got the all-round game for the Premier League and will games pass him by?

You’re probably looking at him and thinking, Joe, you’ve got all the ability in the world, are you stamping your authority on games enough? But when he gets going in full flight, there’s not many better sights.

He is unique in that way. You can see why managers would like him, because he has got that skillset that not many players have. It will be interesting to see where he fits in.

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Cherries have some tough early fixtures where they may have a lot of defending to do. How could he help in situations like that?

To be fair, if he’s playing for a team without the ball as well, that’s going to be the difficult thing. As stupid as it sounds, he could probably play for Man City or Liverpool with the way they can keep the ball.

Then again, if you’re playing on the counter-attack and not seeing much of it, he can carry the ball 60 yards in the blink of an eye. He’s got that ability.

There was a goal at Cardiff that he scored earlier this year where you just can’t stop him. Brereton scored one at Huddersfield where he literally just burst past four players. It’s taking that responsibility in the final third.

In terms of his character, is going to be a joker in the dressing room or a more laid back type?

I’d say a quieter figure. Rothwell was at that age, in the 27 bracket, where Rovers haven’t got many of them.

They’ve got loads of 22, 23-year-olds and a few at the top end. People like (Bradley) Dack, who are the loudest in the dressing room.

So he’s quite a quiet guy. Seems family-orientated from the stuff he was saying in January about it all being about his family.

I think he always knew he was waiting for his opportunity and he knew he’d got that ability that he can crack it in the Premier League. Good luck to him.

I don’t think he’s going to be one that’s going to come in and cause any unrest in the dressing room.

A case in point was in January, where he had all this speculation around him. He didn’t want throw his toys out the pram and cause a scene, he was fairly accepting of while the speculation did affect him, when the decision was made, he kept playing.

Rothwell recorded 10 assists last season

How likely was a move to MLS side Chicago Fire after they made a bid for Rothwell in January?

It was realistic in the fact that there was the offer.

They were the other ones that were showing an interest. I think if it would’ve been anybody but Bournemouth or equally if Bournemouth had brought that money even in the summer, he’d have had a year rather than six months, but the money they were offering were fair.

And now Rovers have lost him, (Darragh) Lenihan and (Ryan) Nyambe all on free transfers, where between them they probably could’ve commanded £10million.

But from his point of view, he probably thought if he didn’t go in January and Bournemouth went up, would they still want him? But obviously they’ve looked at him and seen something they like.

At the age he is, he’s 27, he was only on four or five grand a week. He was Rovers’ first signing after promotion from League One and he never signed another contract. Even with a few incremental bonuses year on year, his salary wouldn’t have reflected what it was in the squad, because he’d not signed a new deal.

Anything else to add on what Cherries fans can expect from Rothwell?

They probably know they're getting a player on a free transfer from Blackburn, so he’s not going to rip up the world.

But equally there’s a player in there that you can unlock and has got qualities that probably not many have.

So there’s something definitely a bit different to add into that midfield.