Bournemouth’s Eunan O’Kane grasps second chance

Six years ago, Eunan O’Kane was just a statistic; another talented youngster dumped by a Premier League club and forced to return home with his pride and career in ruins.

Fast forward and he is on the verge of making his debut in England’s top flight having defied the critics, bucked the trends, and worked harder than anyone would have expected him to. He shouldn’t really be back there. At least according to research that shows that 98% of academy players who fail to break into the first-team set-up at Premier League clubs never complete the return journey.

O’Kane clearly didn’t read that script. Released by Everton in 2009, he signed for Coleraine in the Irish League before Torquay United in League Two came calling a year later. He then moved on to Bournemouth and it’s been an upward curve ever since. Successive promotions with The Cherries have brought the classy midfielder, now 25, back to the Premier League. When once he was peering through the window hoping to be invited in, now he is being treated like footballing royalty.