Smith in the dark on long-term Bournemouth future

Brad Smith says he hasn’t yet thought about making his loan stint at Seattle permanent and is still to speak to Bournemouth about his long-term future. The Australia international has enjoyed a new lease of life since being allowed to make the switch to Major League Soccer earlier this year.
On Tuesday night, Smith was part of the Sounders team that defeated LAFC 3-1 to win the MLS Western Conference Final and the left-back is desperate to now claim a first senior football title by winning the MLS Cup.
Having struggled for game time at Bournemouth after joining from Liverpool in 2016, Smith has been a regular for Seattle since moving across the Atlantic and could be tempted to make the move permanent with little prospect of breaking back into Eddie Howe’s team should he come home.
Smith has managed just 10 appearances for the Cherries and has slipped a long way down the pecking order with Lloyd Kelly added to the squad in the summer to provide competition with Diego Rico and Charlie Daniels at left-back.
When asked what the long-term future held for him, Smith said he was currently in the dark and would wait until the MLS season reached its conclusion in November before sitting down to speak to Bournemouth.
Pushed if he had heard from the south coast side, Smith told Tribal Football: “No. Nothing yet. I’m just enjoying my time here, playing. It’s going well. “So I’m sure after this season we’ll sit down and speak with Bournemouth, my agents, Seattle, there’s going to be a few decisions to make there. So we’ll have to sit down and speak about it.”
Seattle is the first club at which Smith has been able to establish himself as a first-team regular, making 28 appearances and providing five assists for far this season. He has previously spoken of his belief that MLS will continue to improve as a competition and appears open to staying in Washington.
Having failed to make the grade at Liverpool after making his debut at 19, Bournemouth brought Smith to the south coast as competition for Daniels.
However, the veteran managed to keep hold of his spot, limiting the youngster’s opportunities.
Amid fears he could lose his place in the Australia squad, Smith initially went on loan to Seattle for the end of the 2018 season before returning this year for the entire campaign.
Seattle are understood to be paying half of the 25-year-old’s wages and it remains to be seen whether they could offer a deal which would tempt him to make his stay permanent.