Dominic Solanke can probably consider himself to be a little unfortunate.
Hitting his 20th goal of the Championship season during Bournemouth’s 2-1 comeback victory over Stoke City this weekend, such a tally at this stage of the season would usually be enough to put a striker in contention for the Golden Boot.
But this is no ordinary Championship season. And Aleksandr Mitrovic is no ordinary Championship striker.
Remarkably, despite breaking the 20-goal barrier for the first time in his career on Saturday afternoon, Solanke is still 14 – yes, fourteen – adrift of Fulham’s irrepressible Serbian centre-forward.
In fact, you could put the respective tallies of Solanke and Billy Sharp together and still be two short of Mitrovic. But that should not distract from what has been a superb season for Bournemouth’s former Liverpool frontman.
Especially when you consider that it took Solanke 39 Premier League games to open his account for the South Coast club.
Is Dominic Solanke about to become a Premier League star at last?
Until breaking his Bournemouth duck in a shock 4-1 victory over Leicester City two years ago, Solanke looked like a candidate for one of the worst pound-for-pound signings in modern top-flight history.
£19 million, 38 games and no goals. The numbers certainly didn’t look good.
Should he succeed in firing Bournemouth back to the big time, however, Solanke can consider that £19 million investment repaid.
“Dominic Solanke… probably the best I’ve seen him this season,” Bournemouth boss Scott Parker told Dorset Live as the former England U21 international took his tally to 19 during the 3-1 triumph over Birmingham City a fortnight ago.
“His general play, his hold up play was magnificent. In the first half, (he was) a real striker. He had a defender up him and he had to be a proper nine. Then he also had to be the one who could stretch the line.
“He looked a constant threat for us.”
Will Bournemouth earn promotion?
It is almost three-and-a-half years since Solanke left the Liverpool bench for the black-and-red of Bournemouth. He’s taken his sweet time. But, after breaking the 20-goal barrier for the first and hopefully not the last time, a striker who found the net with such remarkable regularity at youth level is finally starting to show what all the fuss was about.
Better late than never.
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