EDDIE Howe responded to Tottenham's supposed interest in Adam Smith by reiterating his claim that Cherries would "certainly" keep their best players this summer.

With doubts surrounding the future of Spurs right-back Kyle Walker, the Daily Mirror suggested the Londoners' boss, Mauricio Pochettino, could be poised to move for ex-Tottenham man Smith.

And while Howe batted away the speculation about Smith – in the same way he has previously dismissed rumours over the futures of Joshua King and Steve Cook – he admitted he was happy to see his players attracting interest from elsewhere.

Howe told the Daily Echo: "I am not surprised people are talking about Adam. He has had a very good, consistent season. But, certainly, we will keep our best players.

"I’d much prefer my players to be talked about positively, than having none of them being linked with anyone else.

"It means they have had a good season and contributed in the right way for the team. I will take that, because I think that’s where we want all our players to be."

Smith completed a permanent switch from Spurs to Cherries in January 2014, having previously spent a hefty chunk of the 2010-11 campaign on loan at Dean Court.

"He has had a similar journey to a lot of the players we recruit," said Howe. "It takes a little bit of time to understand everything we ask of all our players.

"Although we’d worked with Adam before, there was a period where he needed to fully convert to our philosophy and our way of playing.

"Then he had to compete with Simon Francis for his place, which was the main battle for him. Simon was excellent in our championship season, very consistent and rarely injured, so that was a difficult one for Adam to take.

"But he stayed patient and trained so well every week. He was a tough player to leave out at that time but he got his rewards the following season.

"Simon moved inside and Adam hasn’t looked back from that moment."