17 hours ago
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Bournemouth have signed Hungary midfielder Alex Toth for £10.4m from Ferencvaros.
The deal for the 20-year-old, who has joined the Cherries on a five-and-a-half year contract, includes a possible £2.6m in add-ons for the Hungarian club and 10% of any future sale.
Benfica, Galatasaray and Lazio are also understood to have been keen on Toth, who has nine caps for his country.
"When I knew AFC Bournemouth were first interested in me, I was excited and happy because this is a good club in the Premier League, the best league in the world and the strongest league," said Toth.
"The whole club, the whole structure is great."
The defensive midfielder has played all his club football in Hungary and spent the 2023-24 season on loan at Soroksar.
He made his debut for Ferencvaros in December 2024 and has featured 52 times for the league champions, scoring four goals.
"He has come from a club that is used to competing at the highest level in Hungary, while also featuring in Europe, so we're excited about what he can bring to us in Bournemouth as he continues to develop further under the coaching of Andoni [Iraola]," said Bournemouth's head of football operations Tiago Pinto.
Toth is Bournemouth's third signing of the January window following the arrivals of goalkeeper Fraser Forster and defender Ade Solanke.
Hungarian football expert Bence Bocsak
The thing about Toth is he can play as a number eight, he can be a box-to-box player, but he has played as a holding player in the past.
I don't think he's going to be a destroyer type, and as a holding midfielder he's more of a deep-lying creator. And he can also play more advanced as a number 10. He's played all of those roles for Ferencvaros, but more importantly he's played all those roles for the Hungary national team, against Portugal and other big nations.
He's very experienced at a high level already because he's been playing regular Europa League football, so he's not coming directly from the Hungarian league because that's a big step to the Premier League.
Everyone that you speak to about him, everyone that's worked with him, has praised his character.
He's not a Dominik Szoboszlai that was tipped to be a star the minute he came into the Hungary national team at 16 years old. Alex has had to wait for his time. He's worked hard. He's been the ultimate professional throughout his time, then eventually got his opportunity because of his character.
He's learned from Naby Keita at Ferencvaros and his manager is Robbie Keane and he's been working really closely with him, and he's taught him a lot. His arrival at Ferencvaros has been really important for his development.
He's got a lot of intensity. He's a good presser so number 10 will probably be the role he could play in this Bournemouth side at the moment.
In terms of that intensity we know [Andoni] Iraola's football, it is focused and high pressing and being really good in those final third areas when you lose possession. Alex is really good at that. For me, that would probably be his role.
