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Cherries search for mid-season friendly - but 'not easy' to organise, says Iraola

With 22 days between games for Andoni Iraola’s side, it is a prolonged gap with the international break and the FA Cup quarterfinals the weekend afterwards.

Iraola told the Daily Echo previously that the club were exploring playing a friendly during the break, but leading into it, he admitted that they were finding it tough to organise.

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“There is nothing confirmed,” he said.

“We are trying to get a friendly, but it's not easy because Championship clubs play after the international break.

“It has to be a Premier League club, and then we don't want to travel. We find a lot of teams trying to find a friendly, but they want us to go there, we want them to come here.

Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola reacts on the touchline during the Emirates FA Cup third round match at St James Park, Newcastle. (Image: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)

“We are trying to get somewhere neutral or somewhere in the middle and try to make it work.

“But we haven't found the space, but we are trying. We are trying.”

Iraola said that they will look to get players minutes in the development squad in the break, should they be unable to organise a friendly.

“It's true that also there are a lot of Under-21 games, so we can use them maybe, because we are not going to be with a lot of players,” he said.

“Probably we are training with seven players or something like this. Maybe we can use those Under-21 games to give some minutes to players.

“I'm thinking of, I don't know, Ben Gannon-Doak. I think Enes [Unal] played a couple of weeks ago.

“Maybe someone else hasn't played recently wants also to have some minutes. We can use those games, so we will decide.

“It's unclear, if we can find a good friendly, we would like to play a friendly. But if not, we will try to give some minutes in the Under-21s and even with the Under-21s try to play a friendly game or something.

Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola celebrates the win after the final whistle following the Premier League match at Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton. (Image: Jacob King/PA Wire)

“But it's true that these three weeks without a game, that is first time I've had them during the season, is very strange.

“And we have to deal with it.

“Most of them, they will not notice because they will go with the national teams. They will stay two weeks there and then it's going to be a normal week for them.

“But the ones staying, these six or seven players, I think we have to, because otherwise also to train more than two weeks with the same six players becomes boring.

“So we will try to mix it a little bit, or maybe we train with the Under-21s, or we will think on it.”

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