AFC Bournemouth
Full-back Ryan Fredericks has moved to Vitality Stadium on a free transfer from West Ham United.
His arrival makes the defender Scott Parker’s first summer recruit ahead of the 2022/23 Premier League campaign.
Fredericks has penned a two-year deal with the Cherries which keeps the 29-year-old defender in Dorset until 2024.
Here are five things you might not have known about the club’s latest arrival.
1. Athletic ability
Having been a professional footballer for over ten years, it could have turned out differently for the defender had he followed another path.
With clear athletic attributes, Fredericks was a district champion in the 100m and the triple jump as a youngster.
“I’ve always been fast; I was born that way,” Fredericks told the Fulham club website in 2015.
“I did a bit of athletics back in the day. I got offered a few scholarships, but I was never really going to choose anything other than football.”
2. International outing
Back in 2011, the new Bournemouth signing featured in an England U19 friendly match against the Netherlands.
A strong-looking side boasted future Premier League stars such as Harry Kane and Wilfried Zaha alongside Fredericks.
The then-18-year-old full-back featured for 45 minutes as the young Three Lions were beaten 3-0 by Oranje.
3. First Parker meeting at Spurs
Bournemouth’s latest addition is a familiar face to Scott Parker having played together on multiple occasions.
While Fredericks was in the Tottenham Hotspur academy and the Cherries’ head coach was returning from injury in December 2012, the two crossed paths in an under-21s fixture.
Parker had been injured on international duty and bagged a goal in the game against Aston Villa on route to his first-team return.
Fredericks, meanwhile, helped fend off the Villans’ attack to keep a clean sheet in the 3-0 victory.
The two went on to make numerous further appearances alongside one another over two seasons of overlap at Fulham.
4. A first for English football
During the 2020/21 season, Fredericks was involved in the first concussion substitution at the beginning of its trial period in English football.
Bournemouth’s latest addition entered the field in place of Issa Diop for West Ham in an FA Cup tie with Manchester United.
Diop had suffered a clash of heads with Anthony Martial, meaning he could be replaced by Fredericks as an additional change in the cup defeat.
5. International eligibility
Having made his England U19s appearance, the Three Lions are not the only national side that the full-back is eligible to represent.
Both Scotland and the nation of new teammate Nathan Moriah-Welsh, Guyana, are possibilities for the Cherries’ first summer arrival.
Back in 2015 former Fulham and Millwall defender Matthew Briggs opted to play for the Golden Jaguars and claimed Fredericks was “thinking about it” in an interview with The Guardian.
However, a senior international appearance has not yet followed for any of the countries the defender is eligible to play for.
