Pre-season player diaries: Ryan Christie

Over pre-season, Cherries first-team players will be making first-person diary entries to give supporters a behind-the-scenes look at training ahead of the Premier League season getting underway on 6^th August.

Pre-season’s been good and there’s been a lot of hard work after coming back following a long summer but the trip to Portugal was amazing.

It was a brilliant set-up and training in the sun is always nice for the lads, even though it was a lot of hard work.

There was quite a big Love Island group while we were out there! Every 9pm all the boys bundled into one room to enjoy it together, that was some good team bonding.

I’m rooting for Davide and Ekin-Su, I think a lot of the boys are. Davide’s definitely the funniest in there, he’s my favourite.

In terms of how we’re progressing, we’re starting to see the improvements now and everybody’s looking fitter and sharper; we can’t wait for the first game of the season.

This Saturday we’ve got another exciting game against Real Sociedad and it’s good that it’s at Vitality Stadium again.

I’m looking forward to it and they’ll be a really good test, so I’m sure that will get us in the perfect position going into the first game.

For me, it’s a case of counting down the days until that Villa game because I know everyone’s desperate to get their teeth into it.

I can’t wait because playing in the Premier League is going to be a new experience for me.

I know some of the boys have played there before but it was one of the big reasons I moved to Bournemouth.

Hopefully, we can be successful, which will make it even better!

Your support is going to be massive for us this season and I think we felt that last season, especially toward the tail end.

Everyone was desperate to get over the finish line and get promoted. With the scenes after the Nottingham Forest game, we saw how much it meant to everyone.

I’m sure you’re all ready to go and enjoy the Premier League now and for us to be back in the big time!

- Ryan