Bournemouth have moved from “not for sale” to an asking price. Reports this week say senior figures at the club would sanction a January exit for Alex Scott if a bid in the region of £100m is tabled, after decisive talks between the club hierarchy and the player’s representatives.

The condition attached is the awkward part. Any deal depends on Bournemouth looking safe in the Premier League. After six matches of the 2026-27 season they sit 18th on three points, with no wins, three draws, three defeats and a goal difference of minus six.

Chelsea’s £60m summer bid rejected

Chelsea are the frontrunners. During the summer transfer window, an initial £60m bid, which could have risen to £64m with performance-related add-ons, was rejected by Bournemouth. Every member of the Premier League’s “Big Six” is said to have reached out at some point, but the Chelsea interest has stayed the most persistent.

Liverpool are in the picture for a different reason. Andoni Iraola, Scott’s manager at the Vitality Stadium through three Premier League seasons, is now in charge at Anfield after replacing Arne Slot in the summer.

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On the day of his unveiling, Iraola summed up the appeal of the job in four words.

“Liverpool is Liverpool.”

That working relationship with Scott gives Liverpool an edge Chelsea cannot match from the sidelines.

Scott has turned down two extension offers already

Scott himself has made his position clear by what he has not signed. He has turned down two contract extensions at Bournemouth, with his existing deal running until 2028, and is reported to want to move.

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The Guernsey-born midfielder joined the Cherries from Bristol City in August 2023 for a then-club-record fee of around £25m. A £100m sale would therefore quadruple what Bournemouth paid for him, after they had already seen Chelsea’s bid of less than two-thirds of that number waved away three months ago.

Rose has no wins after six matches

Marco Rose was brought in to continue the Iraola project at the Vitality Stadium. His first six Premier League matches have returned three draws, three defeats and no wins. The condition in Bournemouth’s new stance is explicit: Chelsea and Liverpool can only chase Scott at £100m in January if the Cherries are no longer in the bottom three by then.

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