Over the weekend, right-back Álex Jiménez made his 18th Premier League appearance for AFC Bournemouth against Aston Villa.
This milestone triggered an appearance-related clause in the 20-year-old’s loan deal with Italian giants AC Milan.
That clause means that the young Spaniard will now make the move to Dean Court on a permanent basis, with legal formalities being processed between the clubs, with an announcement expected within days.
Interestingly, former club Real Madrid hold a 50% sell-on clause, so the Spanish giants will also benefit from the deal alongside AC Milan, where Álex Jiménez spent the last two seasons (initially on loan).
According to football journalist Fabrizio Romano, AFC Bournemouth will pay a €19.5million fixed fee, with €5.3million in potential add-ons. Whilst according to Sky Sports, Jiménez’s contract with the Cherries will run through until June 2031.
Bournemouth will pay Milan £16.8 million plus £4.5million in potential add-ons for the defender, with Real Madrid holding a sell-on of their own from his move to Milan in August 2023.
— Mark McAdam (@markmcadamtv) February 3, 2026
🚨🍒 Alex Jimenez will become Bournemouth player on permanent deal this week.
€19.5m fixed fee, €5.3m add-ons and contract until June 2031.
The fee will be shared between AC Milan and Real Madrid (owning 50% sell-on). pic.twitter.com/HAebv2DeFT
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) February 4, 2026
At the age of 20, Jiménez will now have played for three clubs, across three countries on a permanent basis.
Having initially signed for Real Madrid 13 years ago, Jiménez came through the Spanish giants’ youth system before signing a lucrative deal when he turned professional.
Despite clearly being well thought of at Real Madrid, having made 7 league appearances for Real Madrid’s B side and earning international call-ups for Spain from the Under 15’s to the Under 19’s, he made the loan move to AC Milan in July 2023.
By March 2024, AC Milan activated their buy-option clause a reported for a €5 million, with Real Madrid securing a future buy-back clause and sell-one fee.
Jiménez made 34 appearances in all competitions for AC Milan, including 2 appearances during the 2024–25 Supercoppa Italiana campaign, which AC Milan won.
In 2025, he made the step up to Spain’s Under-21 set-up, and with such a rise across three of Europe’s biggest leagues, a place in Spain’s World Cup 2026 squad could be on the cards.
Your say…
Cherriess wrote…
We’ve been struggling to replace Smithy for ages. Now we have a very decent replacement as Smithy gets older. We can even play them together with Jimenez on the wing. What great versatility.
Kellyville Red added…
Would keep Smithy as long as he wants to stay. He’s an absolute model professional in the Marc Pugh and Andrew Surman mould.
We’ve tried so hard to find a replacement, and Smithy has been so unbelievably good it hasn’t been possible.
The biggest testament to Alex is that we still haven’t got a replacement, we’ve got an upgrade! The kid is special with a capital S, and our recruitment team is unreal. – To join the conversation, please click here.
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DJ
I have been a writer and website administrator on the largest AFC Bournemouth fan website for almost 25 years. Previously on a now defunct fan network and since 2005 on vitalfootball.co.uk We have been nominated for various fan website awards down the years, however we have always been the bridesmaid…