ASSISTANT boss Jason Tindall insisted Cherries had made a clear statement of intent by winning the battle to sign sought-after striker Tokelo Rantie.

Cherries today completed the high-profile capture of Malmo star Rantie on a four-year contract for a fee which was believed to have shattered the club’s previous record.

Both clubs described the financial package as undisclosed and the transfer tonight remained subject to international clearance and a work permit.

However, the money involved is reportedly well in excess of the £800,000 Cherries were rumoured to have spent on previous record recruit Matt Tubbs.

South African star Rantie, who has 12 full international caps, had been top of Eddie Howe’s summer wish-list and was also understood to have been a target for Scottish giants Celtic and Championship rivals Middlesbrough.

But despite seeing two bids rejected by Malmo during pre-season, Cherries’ persistence was rewarded when a third offer, labelled “sizeable” by Malmo, proved irresistible for the Swedish outfit.

Cherries had made no secret of their desire to add to their attacking resources following promotion and Howe’s assistant Tindall was delighted at the arrival of 22-year-old Rantie.

Tindall told the club website: “I imagine he will be unknown to people in England, but he is a very exciting prospect and a fantastic talent.

“He is a full international as well and I am sure he will have the fans on the edge of their seats. He is very dynamic, skilful and intelligent, so we are delighted with the signing of Tokelo.

“He was recommended to us by our new head of player recruitment Dave Webb and we have done a lot of research on him since then. I have seen him a couple of times live and he is a player who will improve the squad.

“He was sought after across Europe and a number of teams enquired about him and put offers to Malmo, so it is testament to the football club that we have managed to secure his services with the amount of competition that we had. It shows the direction we are going in, the ambition of the club and I think it sends out a statement to everybody as well.”

Rantie will compete with Cherries’ other senior strikers – Brett Pitman, Lewis Grabban, Josh McQuoid and Wes Thomas – for a starting place, once his paperwork has been completed.

Tindall added: “It was important that we signed another striker who was different to those we have got. We are blessed with good strikers and Tokelo will add something different and make us really strong.

“There are still a few boxes to tick and he needs a work permit. Sometimes, that is a process that takes a couple of days and, sometimes, it goes to appeal and takes longer. We are hoping to have him available soon but if it does take longer, hopefully he will be ready for our next home game.”