Bournemouth boss Gary O’Neil is pondering the next move for James Hill.
This week marked one year since centre-back Hill arrived at Vitality Stadium, joining on a £1million deal from League OneFleetwood Town, penning a contract until 2026.
But the 20-year-old has found game-time hard to come by, featuring just four times for the first team so far.
O’Neil told theDaily Echo: “I think James Hill is a young centre-back that did well in League One, has shown signs of improvement, especially in the last few weeks I’ve been really pleased with him in training.
“Since we’ve come back – the winter trip away and training here, he’s trained really well.
“But playing football is huge, especially at that age.
“For a centre-back, he’s still very, very young and has a lot still to learn.
“Whether that ends up being on loan or whether that ends up being with us and continuing to progress, we’ll have to see what happens.”
Cherries fought off reported competition from the likes of Southampton and Sheffield United to sign Hill last year, with Spanish giants Barcelona also said to have kept tabs on him.
Asked if Hill has developed as hoped in the past 12 months, O’Neil said: “It is a big step to the Premier League, from the Championship, let alone League one. It’s a huge step.
“He’s still a young lad, still plenty to learn, but he works hard, wants to improve.
“How we progress him and how we develop him, it’s important we get that right.”
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