EDDIE Howe revealed earlier this month that he wanted to strengthen his squad in January.

Normally taciturn when quizzed on such matters, Howe’s candour in this instance is indicative of a man not prepared to settle for the status quo.

But where should the Cherries manager’s priorities lie when the market opens for business?

Understandably, Howe was unwilling to discuss the identity of possible targets, although Portsmouth’s precocious teenage striker Conor Chaplin is reported to have caught his eye.

And there would certainly be merit in Cherries adding another young, hungry, talented footballer to their armoury.

Nevertheless, when Howe persuaded Jack Wilshere to spend a season at Vitality Stadium, he did more than simply recruit one of the most gifted English footballers of his generation.

By prising Wilshere from Arsenal, Howe altered the entire landscape of his club.

Cherries are now a team flirting with the top half of the Premier League. Their supporters are growing accustomed to watching a 34-cap England international wearing their shirt.

That does not mean there is no longer room for bringing in players of raw potential – Lewis Cook and Lys Mousset being the latest examples of such additions.

But if they don’t want to stand still – a position which invites dire consequences at football’s cutting edge – the club must think big.

It is an open secret that, for the right price, Jurgen Klopp will allow Daniel Sturridge to leave Liverpool.

A centre-forward who has scored his Premier League goals at a rate of better than one every two games for his current club, Sturridge will have an army of suitors.

Cherries, without question, should be one of them.

The very idea of Sturridge for AFC Bournemouth would have been laughed out of town 12 months ago.

Not any more. Howe has applied an expert touch to his handling of Wilshere, so answering one of the few remaining questions about his managerial aptitude.

Howe knows how to get the best from the biggest stars, no question.

They don’t come much bigger than Sturridge. Nor do they come much better.

One of the more familiar refrains following any Cherries match this season concerns the team’s lack of cutting edge.

Callum Wilson confessed on Sunday that his side would have left Arsenal with a reward for their efforts “if we were more clinical in the final third”.

Indeed, had they located a more ruthless streak in their opponents’ penalty area this term, Cherries would have amassed more than their current tally of 15 points.

Sturridge’s presence would go a long way to correcting that shortcoming.

Naysayers would point to the 27-year-old’s injury record and perceived aversion to hard work as reasons to steer clear.

But it is remarkable what can happen to a footballer when he is trusted to shoulder much of the responsibility for his team’s fortunes.

Wilshere, blighted by fitness issues for huge chunks of the past five years, has been fit for every one of Cherries’ games since joining three months ago.

Sturridge, for his part, had his most prolific year when he was one third of Liverpool’s dazzling trio of attackers charged with propelling a Premier League title bid.

His two comrades in arms during that 2013-14 campaign, Luis Suarez and Raheem Sterling, have since left Merseyside for pastures new.

And while Cherries might not be operating in the same sphere as Barcelona or Manchester City, they are now breathing rarefied air.

There is, of course, plenty to like about the zippy, imaginative collection of forwards Howe already has at his disposal.

Junior Stanislas is playing the best football of his career. The dynamic Wilson, meanwhile, has four goals this season and looks every inch a Premier League – and, in time, England – striker.

But Howe admits he wants to be burdened by selection headaches. And if there is the merest chance of landing himself with an almighty, self-inflicted migraine he should go for it.

Certainly, Cherries should ask the question of Sturridge. The worst that can happen is they fail in their bid to sign a world-class footballer – the occasional lot of any team moving in exclusive transfer circles.

Succeed in luring another multiple-cap England man to Dorset, however, and Howe would have executed the next step in his astonishing transformation of this club.