Cherries move for Villa youngster

The 19-year-old will make his Cherries debut in Saturday's crucial relegation tussle against Northampton Town.

Bournemouth boss Seon O'Driscoll made the move, after Garreth O'Connor damaged ligaments in training on Friday.

"Stephen is thought very highly of at Aston Villa and he is one that we have kept an eye on for a long time," O'Driscoll told Bournemouth's official website.

"He is extremely talented, and it's probably not the best time to bring somebody like that in if I'm really honest. But with Garreth O'Connor going down on Friday, we had to move pretty quickly.

"Stephen was always interested in coming and he has known of our interest in him for a long time. It's wrong to say that he was the easiest one to bring in, but obviously we had seen him play and I think it's a bit like the Jermain (Defoe) situation.

"People thought he was too small and too slight, but he is extremely talented and I think Stephen is in that mould, although he is a central midfield player.

"He has a tremendous amount of ability and if he can reproduce that in the Second Division, he will be a player to watch."