BRACED boss Eddie Howe believes Callum Wilson will attract renewed interest if he fires Cherries up the Premier League table.

Wilson, widely regarded as one of English football's most promising talents, was linked with a string of top-flight clubs last season including Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.

The 24-year-old and Matt Ritchie – now at Newcastle United – were the subject of a big-money bid from West Ham in May for a figure believed to be around £20million.

However, the offer was rejected with Howe describing as "unwelcome and unwanted" the Hammers' advances, which were made on the eve of the final game of the season at Manchester United.

Wilson's campaign was severely hampered by a serious knee injury, the former England Under-21 international spending more than six months on the sidelines after breaking down at Stoke City in September.

He returned at Aston Villa in April and made five further appearances before the end of the campaign.

Having completed pre-season, Wilson started Cherries' 3-1 defeat at home to Manchester United last weekend but could not find his first Premier League goal in 11 months.

Howe insists Wilson possesses the qualities which top-flight clubs seek and says the striker will receive attention if he hits top form.

Speaking ahead of tomorrow's trip to London Stadium to face West Ham (4pm), the boss told the Daily Echo: “When you look around the country, very good strikers are hard to find and very expensive to recruit – everyone’s seen the prices during this window.

“Callum is young, athletic, quick and knows where the goal is and they are hallmarks anyone would want in their team.

“He’s going to be sought after if he continues his good form from last year.

“The most important thing for Callum, at this stage, is to remain injury-free and to get his performance levels absolutely where he wants.

"I think if he gets those things, the goals will come.”

Wilson was most recently on target for Cherries in a 2-0 home win over Sunderland in September last year, his fifth goal in four games, which included a hat-trick at West Ham.

The pacy frontman was not the only Cherries player to suffer a long-term knee injury last season with Max Gradel and Tyrone Mings also succumbing.

Howe added: “I think it’s huge to have all of our big players back from injuries they suffered. To have Callum back is a huge confidence boost for everyone connected with the team.

“He’s a real talent. He’s still working his way back to his best level and that may well be the case for a period of time.

“It’s the same with Max Gradel and Tyrone Mings is not far away.

“Everyone’s talked about our signings but those guys are as important as everybody else. They can give everyone a huge lift in terms of the quality we have on offer.

"I’m really excited about the team. When we’re firing on all cylinders, I think we’re going to be hard to stop.”