Unsung hero for Bournemouth: Adam Smith
Marcos Alonso, Antonio Valencia, Nathaniel Clyne – all marauding full-backs that you’d expect to be at the heart of their teams’ attacking endeavours, right?
Well, you’d be absolutely correct in making that assertion but last season, none of those players boasted the creative end product conjured up by Bournemouth’s Adam Smith.
Sitting pretty at the top of the assist list for defenders is the 26-year-old, who has played in every tier of the Football League and came up to the Premier League with the Cherries in 2014 before developing into one of the top-flight’s most creative right-backs.
Along with the likes of Simon Francis, Steve Cook, Charlie Daniels, Harry Arter and Marc Pugh, Smith is one of those Bournemouth players that have seamlessly acclimatised to the unwavering intensity of the Premier League following the Dorset outfit’s rise through the ranks.
Like those compatriots, he may not have played for the Cherries, who were almost relegated out of the Football League in the 2008-09 season, in League One but that doesn’t mean Smith didn’t learn his trade in the lower leagues.
(Photo by Alex Broadway/Getty Images)
Born in Leytonstone, Smith is a product of the Tottenham Hotspur academy but found first-team opportunities hard to come by in North London.
His first taste of senior football came on loan at Wycombe Wanderers in League Two in 2009 and he went on to have further temporary spells at Torquay United, MK Dons, Leeds United, Millwall and Derby County.
Most crucial of all those loans spells however was the season-long stretch he spent with Bournemouth during their 2010-11 campaign in League One and, despite managing two first-team cameos for Spurs, he joined the Cherries on a free transfer in January 2014.
Since then, the former England U21 international has flourished on the south coast and there are a few hints that Smith’s influence is being recognised.
He was reportedly placed on standby by Gareth Southgate when England played Scotland at Wembley last November and he has even been linked with a return to Tottenham should they sell Kyle Walker this summer.
The man himself has distanced himself from that speculation, saying: “It is always nice to be talked about in a positive way, because it means you are doing something right.
“I would rather that than be getting bad press but I am a Bournemouth player and planning to have a nice holiday, and then come back here next season.”
Smith is certainly doing a lot right.
