MANAGER Eddie Howe believes Joshua King’s desire to improve has been a key factor in the striker’s impressive debut season with Cherries.

King has been a revelation during the second half of the campaign and has played a starring role in helping Cherries all but secure their Premier League status.

The Norwegian international has started Cherries’ past nine games in the top flight, scoring in crucial wins against Newcastle, Swansea and Aston Villa.

He also netted the winner against former club Manchester United in December and is in the frame to collect the club’s Golden Boot after bagging the first of his five league goals at Swansea in November.

King, who was on target in Cherries’ FA Cup victory at Portsmouth in January, experienced mixed fortunes at the start of the season when he was utilised in a more withdrawn role.

However, since being asked to operate in a more central role, the 24-year-old has flourished and turned out to be one of the buys of the season in the Premier League.

King cost Cherries just £1million when he penned a three-year contract in May having rejected fresh terms with Championship outfit Blackburn.

Boss Howe, who was first alerted to King during his time as manager at Burnley, told the Daily Echo: “He is playing on merit.

“He has been outstanding, not just in the last section of games but for the majority of the season. He has improved so much and we have been delighted with him.

“We hope there is a lot more to come and he will turn out to be a really good signing for the club for the long term. He is a player we like very much and enjoy working with. He wants to improve every day and has benefited from working hard at his game.

“We have been delighted with Josh. It has been a really interesting journey to see him develop this season and I think he is getting better and better.

“We have a really young group of strikers and that is the beauty of our strike-force. Hopefully, they will be here for a long time to score a lot of goals for us.”