On the sale of last seasons leading goal scorer, manager Eddie Howe is quoted on the Clubs Official Web Site as saying: "We've been aware that there has been a lot of interest in Grabbs and with the clause in his contract we were aware that we were going to lose him at some point this summer. It is a huge amount of money, especially when you take into account the investment that was made in Grabbs just two years ago. It is a club record and now it's up to us to try and make sure the team continues to move forward. He goes with our best wishes for the service he has given us in the two years he has been here".
On the challenge to fill the gap left by Grabban, Howe is quoted in the Bournemouth Evening Echo as saying: "Sometimes these things can make you stronger and that’s certainly how we are looking at it. Unless you are Real Madrid or Barcelona, there is always a fear you are going to lose your best players and we’ve always historically had this issue. However, we have always managed to find replacements, or brought players from within who have come in and done a very good job. Now the door opens for the likes of Tokelo Rantie, Brett Pitman and Josh McQuoid who are already here and, of course, we have the transfer market as well. From our perspective we are very positive, we feel we've got a really good squad and we feel if we can make some quality additions we can be stronger than we were last year".