GARY O’Neil hailed Jack Stacey an “incredible professional” for the way he approached his final months at Cherries.

Stacey’s departure from the club was confirmed this week, the 27-year-old set to join Norwich City on a free transfer after his four-year contract at Cherries expired.

The right-back had just helped Luton Town achieve promotion from League One when was plucked in the summer of 2019 for £4million and he quickly thrust into Premier League action.

He went on to play 19 top-flight games under Eddie Howe, as Cherries suffered relegation into the Championship.

A long run in the team the subsequent season followed, with Jason Tindall as boss, before injury saw him lose his place, which he was never able to recover under Jonathan Woodgate.

Scott Parker then took over as boss in the summer of 2021, Stacey going on to play a key role in Cherries rising to the automatic promotion places in the Championship.

The former Reading youngster hit a dip in form, but with Adam Smith out injured, played through it and came out the other side.

However, Cherries began to move away from Stacey in January 2022, with the 27-year-old struggling for game-time in the past 18 months.

Smith has been first choice right-back in that spell, with Ethan Laird loaned in to also play some minutes in the Championship promotion season, before Ryan Fredericks was signed last summer.

Stacey played just one minute of action between January and the end of the season, not even making the bench for many games before being listed as an unused substitute for the final four fixtures, including the 1-0 loss at Everton on Sunday.

Stacey leaves having made 98 appearances for Cherries, scoring one goal and providing 10 assists.

Discussing Stacey, Cherries boss O’Neil told the Daily Echo: “An incredible guy. To have to just play the small part that he has recently and to still be how he is around the group and to still be how he is in training, I’ve never seen a second from him where he hasn’t been 100 per cent professional, 100 per cent committed, 100 per cent putting the group above himself.

“There are always people that don’t play as much as they would like. Sometimes they go under the radar.

“But the impact that you can have on the group still when you’re not playing, you have a choice at that moment, whether you are disruptive and you put yourself first or whether you decide ‘no, I’m going to make sure that I do all I can from the position I’m in to make sure I help this group be successful’.

“You’ll never catch me saying a bad word about Jack Stacey.

“I think he’s an incredible professional.”