Eddie Howe has confirmed that summer signings Diego Rico and Jefferson Lerma are expected to make their debuts for the club during Tuesday evening’s Carabao Cup tie against MK Dons at Vitality Stadium.
Rico had been suspended for the club’s opening three Premier League games of season, whilst Lerma was an unused substitute during the weekend’s home draw against Everton.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Howe confirmed he’ll make changes for the visit of Sky Bet League Two side MK Dons.
“Yes, we’ll be fully utilising the squad,” Howe said. “We have some very talented players who haven’t had an opportunity to play so far.
“The team we’re going to play is going to be strong, so we’ve got no reason to believe that we can’t go far in the cup competitions and give a good performance.
“Yes, we’ll need a bit of luck during the key moments. We’ve got the squad depth to go far in cup competitions.
“We have no fresh injuries. We’re still without Junior [Stanislas] and Kyle [Taylor], but everyone else is fit.”
Club record signing Lerma was one of a number of senior players to feature during last week’s under-21 outing away at Brentford, completing the full 90 minutes for the first time since his appearances for Colombia at the FIFA World Cup.
And Howe confirmed that ex-Levante midfielder was be named in Tuesday’s starting line-up.
“Jefferson will play. We’re looking forward to seeing him play here. He has been impressive in training do far and it’s an exciting prospect.
“It’s great to be able to give him the opportunity to play at home. He’s done well in training and is showing all of attributes that we wanted. It will be interesting to see how he fits into the team.”
