Bournemouth pay £24.7m for Brazilian teenager Rayan

Bournemouth I hope to have found a replacement for Antoine Semenyo with the signing of Brazilian teenager Rayan.

The Cherries paid a fee of £24.7million to bring the winger to the Vitality Stadium from Vasco da Gama.

Rayan, 19, shone last year with Vasco, scoring 20 goals in 57 games in all competitions, and he also put in some good performances with Brazil’s youth teams.

Bournemouth are hoping they can replace Semenyo, who joined Manchester City earlier this month for £64million.

Bournemouth chairman of football operations Tiago Pinto said: “Rayan is a player we have followed closely and who has already shown impressive consistency and maturity for his age.

“We believe he has huge potential and Bournemouth is the ideal environment for him to continue his development and make an impact. I am pleased that he has chosen our project as the one he has committed to and we are very pleased to have him in our team, as we continue to reinvest in the squad.”

Rayan added to the club’s official website: “I am very happy and very honored to be here, especially with the sporting project that they have developed for me. I am extremely happy. It is a club that develops a lot of talent, so I am very happy to be here and I hope to give a lot of joy to the supporters.”