Bournemouth's Eddie Howe hits out at West Ham over timing of double bid for Callum Wilson and Matt Ritchie

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Eddie Howe has criticised West Ham after Bournemouth received, and rejected, a double bid for Callum Wilson and Matt Ritchie on Monday.

The Cherries coach confirmed on Tuesday evening that the Hammers tabled an offer for the pair this week - just one day before Bournemouth played their re-arranged Premier League fixture against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

The timing of the bid was labelled as "bizarre" by Howe, who then revealed that the Cherries did not accept the offer and have no intention of selling their stars this summer.

After Bournemouth's 3-1 loss at Old Trafford, Howe said: "We had a bid yesterday [Monday] evening.

"The disappointing thing from my perspective is why the bid has come in a day before a game, our last game of the season. You've got the whole summer to bid for players. I don't understand that.

"I've then got two players in the squad who were due to play and a lot of speculation around their futures, so I think that was bizarre from this club's perspective.

"But the bid was rejected and we have no intention to sell."

Bournemouth finished their debut campaign in the Premier League in 16th place, but are hoping to strengthen their squad this summer in the hope of moving higher up the table next term.

Howe insists the club do not plan to allow any of their most-important players to leave, and are looking to instead be active in the upcoming transfer window to improve their squad depth.

"We don't need to sell," he added. "We have a really ambitious owner. We want to try and improve our squad, not weaken it.

"We are desperately trying to move this team forwards and looking at it the other way, bringing recruits in to strengthen what is already a good group. That's the summer we hope to have."

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