NATHAN Ake insists he is happy to see out his year-long loan with Cherries – and the versatile Dutchman is aiming to become one of the first names on Eddie Howe’s team sheet.

Howe admitted last week that “we will have to see what happens” with regards to Ake remaining with the club until May, Cherries’ manager claiming “most loan agreements” contain “certain clauses”.

Chelsea loan star Ake continued his phenomenal start to life in Howe’s side by bundling home a spine-tingling stoppage-time winner against Liverpool on Sunday.

And the 21-year-old says he has felt part of the club since arriving in June, even though he had to wait for last month’s victory at Stoke City – when he scored the game’s only goal – for his first Premier League start.

Asked by the Daily Echo if he would be content to stay at Vitality Stadium for the rest of the season, Ake said: “Yes, of course. It is early to say but I think the loan is for the whole season.

“Even before (I was in the team), Eddie Howe talked to me a lot about what I could improve.

“He gave me the confidence to play my own game in these three games and, hopefully, there is a lot more to come.”

By scoring twice in those three matches, Ake tripled his Premier League goals tally – his only other strike coming in previous loan club Watford’s victory over Liverpool 12 months ago.

But after following up his man-of-the-match contribution at Stoke and sterling display in the defeat at Arsenal with his standout performance against Liverpool, Ake is just pleased to be proving his worth.

“Normally it is not like this!” he said, reflecting on finding the net regularly. “I’m just really happy I could score.

“You want to show you want to play. Everyone wants to play but if you get the opportunity you have to show it and, hopefully, I have done enough.”

Ake accepts his form will make it difficult for Howe to leave him out again.

His versatility certainly helps his case – he switched effortlessly from central defence to left-back on Sunday – and now has his sights trained on reaching greater heights in a Cherries shirt.

“You want to go towards (being first choice) so, hopefully, yes, I will be,” said Ake.

“With this group of lads we have got a lot of quality and maybe it isn’t a surprise any more that we play well against the big teams.

“We played well against Tottenham. Against Arsenal we played well but it was just the finishing. We are growing as a team and have a lot of quality.

“We just want to achieve more and more and we did that against Liverpool.”

For now, Ake admits Cherries’ toppling of the Merseysiders stands as the finest moment in his embryonic career.

He said: “It was one of the craziest games and, with that ending, it must be, yes.”