“I just thought it was fake news,” says the Bournemouth defender James Hill, casting his mind back to the time Barcelona sent a scout to watch him play for Fleetwood. The game in question was a League One defeat by Burton and although the then 19-year-old was highly regarded, there were a few double-takes when the request to attend landed. “‘No, that can’t be right.’ And then afterwards someone told me they did come to the game: ‘Oh, incredible.’”
At that point Hill, who at the age of 16 became Fleetwood’s youngest player, was fresh from making his England Under-20 debut and a couple of months later an under-21 call-up followed, though a knee injury prevented him from joining Marc Guéhi, Morgan Gibbs-White, Cole Palmer and co. “I remember being on the phone to Lee Carsley,” he says. “‘I’m sorry, but I’m in the scanner at the moment, I don’t think I’m going to be able to make it judging from the pain I’m in.’”
Premier League clubs and others across Europe noted an athletic and powerful centre-back with dozens of games under his belt, and Bournemouth acted, paying Fleetwood £1.2m, eclipsing the £1m the club received for Jamie Vardy. Leicester laughed when Fleetwood insisted on an England clause in the deal for Vardy and Fleetwood inserted one when Hill joined Bournemouth, too. Hill is being monitored by England and it is impossible not to be impressed by the progress of the 24-year-old.
Hill, who had trials at Blackpool and Everton either side of being released by Bolton at 14, reflects fondly on the days when he was playing for Fleetwood but still cleaning the captain’s and manager’s boots and fishing stray balls out of the pond on the edge of their training base.
“I’d be crawling into the pond, trying not to fall in and making sure one of the boys helping wasn’t going to push me in,” he says, smiling. “I wanted to make sure I did the best job possible to show that I’d do the same if called upon.”
It is a line that is Hill to a tee. He is thoughtful and wholehearted, the ultimate professional. “I have a massive thing of living with no regrets. Even today in training, I don’t want to be looking back thinking: ‘Hmm, could I have worked harder there? Could I have done this? Would that improve me or help me the next day? If I didn’t go in the gym before, would I be weaker when it comes to the game?’ I’m a big believer that everyone’s opportunity comes at different points. When that opportunity does arrive, I don’t want to let myself or the boys down.”
Hill joined Bournemouth approaching four and a half years ago, putting him fifth on their list of longest-serving current players, but this has been his breakthrough season. The centre-back has been a fixture in a team pushing to qualify for the Champions League thanks to a 16-match unbeaten run, the longest in Europe. Until the departing Andoni Iraola selected him at Chelsea in December, Hill had made 16 starts for the club. He previously spent five months on loan at Hearts and six at Blackburn in search of game time.
Bournemouth’s coaching staff believe Hill’s indirect route to the top has allowed him to thrive in the Premier League. “One game [for Fleetwood] I was up against [Adebayo] Akinfenwa and he’s got me in a headlock. He’s headed the ball and I’m saying to the referee: ‘Surely that’s a foul?’ … It wasn’t.”
There was an earthiness to it all. “You understand you’re going into games not to develop, but for three points – you have to develop on the spot. League One is such a physical league and I enjoy a battle; I pride myself on aerial duels, winning tackles and keeping clean sheets.”
He recalls a conversation with his father, Matt, who played more than 600 games as a defender, after reporting for his first England Under-20 camp. Hill was the only player contracted to a third-tier club. “‘Do you think that I’m missing out on category-one football?’ And he asked: ‘Well, how many of the boys are playing professional football and not under-21s?’ One or two? ‘Well, there’s your answer … some of those boys are looking for the opportunity to play professionally in your league.’
“That changed my whole outlook: ‘I’m not the odd one out, I do belong here.’ It was a massive turning point for me and gave me confidence to hit the ground running.”
Growing up, Hill also enjoyed rugby and athletics, especially the javelin, the secret behind his long throw – until this season his 54m throw, on his Premier League debut, against Liverpool in January 2024, was the longest in the division since records began. That day Hill played at left-back and he also operates at right-back, his versatility priceless.
Bournemouth have two players up for the Premier League’s young player of the season award in Eli Junior Kroupi and Alex Scott, but in Hill, who has played every minute of all 19 games since the end of last year, the club had cause for another nominee. He has seized his chance since returning to the XI at Stamford Bridge, a place that forms part of his story. It was his performance there, in a Carabao Cup game on loan at Blackburn, that ignited his belief he could perform in the top flight. It was also where, at the start of last year while enjoying his first real run of games for Bournemouth, he sustained a hamstring injury that hampered his progress.
He has evolved into a key component in a Bournemouth machine at its best taking opposition into “deep waters”. The way Iraola uses substitutes is like a relay race – those on the field are always at full throttle. “It’s embedded in everyone in this team,” Hill says. “If you give 100% and you are knackered, then that’s when the next person [comes in].
“A prime example was Crystal Palace at home [Bournemouth won 3-0]. In the 90th minute, it was like we had just started the game. We kept going from minute one to the end – even when the lads came on from the bench, we kept pressing for more goals. That is just the mentality we have all bought into.”
It is an approach that will be evident when Manchester City visit on Tuesday. Hill will probably be tasked with taming Erling Haaland. “You see a lot of teams change their tactics in terms of sitting in or playing a back five. The manager gives us that belief that every game is an opportunity to take three points. You have seen it, especially this season, beating Liverpool and Arsenal in big games.
“When he [Iraola] told us he was leaving everyone was a bit gutted, but everyone’s mindset has changed because of everything he has done at the club. Where we are now, with all the noise around [qualifying for] Europe, I do believe this team could possibly go and do it – we all believe that we can. Now he’s leaving, we feel like he deserves that kind of parting gift. How many managers in the Premier League get to leave on a high?”
Bournemouth are on course to eclipse their best Premier League finish, ninth last season with 56 points. They could finish fifth. Only Arsenal and Manchester City have lost fewer league games. If Aston Villa finish fifth and win the Europa League on Wednesday, sixth will qualify for the Champions League.
With two games to go, four years on from making his debut against Boreham Wood, talk of Barcelona relates to the prospect of them coming to town in the glitziest competition. “I don’t think words can describe what that would mean,” says Hill. “We’re going to do everything we possibly can to bring European football here.”