SCOTLAND star Ryan Christie has kicked off talks with Bournemouth over his immediate future.
Ex-Celtic, Aberdeen and Caley Thistle ace Christie has just 10-months of his deal left and has been waiting patiently to discover if he fits into new boss Andoni Iraola’s plans.
It’s understood the 28-year-old’s very settled at the south coastPremier League outfit where he’s made 75 appearances since quitting Celtic in 2021, moving to the Vitality Stadium for a £1m fee.
But Gary O’Neil’s sacking at the end of last season, despite keeping the Cherries up, created immediate uncertainty within the squad — including the Inverness-born attacker going into the final year of his contract.
Iraola’s believed to appreciate Christie’s ability but is planning to put his own mark on the team during the current transfer window.
Christie’s open to extending his stay but key to everything is knowing if he will be a key man for the former Rayo Vallecano head coach or just a squad player.
So far this summer, Bournemouth have signed winger Justin Kluivert (son of Newcastle, Ajax and Barcelona hero Patrick) for £9.5m and splashed out £20m to make Hamed Traore’s move from Sassuolo a permanent one after a six-month loan spell.
Romain Favre was also brought in for £12.8m from Lyon but he’s been loaned straight back out to Lorient.
He won the Scottish Cup with Caley Thistle in 2015 while at Celtic he celebrated two successive Trebles.
Christie has also become a key man for Scotland in recent years under Steve Clarke and will know that regular first team football will be imperative to him keeping his place in the squad.
He revealed last month that his future was somewhat up in the air, with no word on when talks over a new deal would commence.
He said in an interview with the Daily Echo: “No discussions yet, but I’m more than happy. Especially with the baby now, I love living in Bournemouth.
“It’s a great place to stay and my family is nice and settled as well.
“I’m not really thinking about that right now. Obviously, the pre-season is pretty tough, so you just need to get the head down and keep working hard.
“My main hope is to impress the new boss as much as I can.
“If that leads to talks about a new contract, so be it. I’ll be looking forward to that hopefully.”
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