Bournemouth confirmed the signing of Alex Tóth from Ferencváros on 20 January 2026, ending weeks of speculation over the Hungary international's future. The fee is reported at around €12 million (£10.4 million), with a further €3 million available in performance-related add-ons, and the 20-year-old has signed a five-and-a-half-year contract that runs until June 2031. The deal is a domestic Hungarian transfer record, more than doubling the previous high of €6 million for a player leaving the country's top division.
For Bournemouth, the move addressed an immediate need as much as a long-term one. Manager Andoni Iraola had been dealing with a midfield injury crisis, and sporting director Tiago Pinto said Tóth 'comes from a club that is used to competing at the highest level in Hungary while also playing in European competitions' — a nod to the player's experience in continental football despite his age. Bournemouth have a strong recent record of developing central Europeans; their previous Hungarian signing, Milos Kerkez, was sold on to Liverpool for close to €47 million after two seasons on the south coast, and the club will hope Tóth follows a similar upward curve.
Ferencváros lose one of their most promising academy products. Tóth broke through as a teenager, spent the 2023–24 season on loan at Soroksár, and returned to become a key figure as the Budapest club won the Nemzeti Bajnokság I title in May 2025 — a campaign in which he was recognised as the league's best player at the club. Head coach Robbie Keane, who oversaw his development, called the fee 'wonderful and almost unbelievable' for a 20-year-old moving to the Premier League, while acknowledging the loss leaves his squad thinner. Ferencváros retain the bulk of the fee as pure profit on a graduate of their own youth system.
Tóth's rise has been rapid. He made his senior Ferencváros debut in 2023 and had played 38 times for the club, scoring three goals, before sealing the move to England. His form for the title winners earned a call-up from Hungary head coach Marco Rossi, and he made his senior international debut against Turkey in a UEFA Nations League play-off in March 2025, adding to his earlier youth-level caps.
He has already had a taste of Premier League football. Tóth came off the bench for the final minutes of Bournemouth's 3-2 win over Liverpool at Dean Court on 24 January, then started away at Everton the following month. The Athletic named him among the standout signings of the January window, alongside more established Premier League names, underlining the level of expectation attached to the deal.
At Bournemouth, Tóth is being brought in as a central midfielder with the engine and passing range to compete for a regular starting role rather than sit as a squad player. Given the length of his contract, the club clearly see him as a long-term piece in Iraola's midfield rather than a short-term injury cover signing, with time to adapt to English football's pace before he is expected to be a nailed-on starter.