EDDIE Howe is convinced Jordon Ibe will fulfil his potential with Cherries but admits the winger is finding his club-record price tag “difficult” to handle.

After being selected for the first 11 games of the recent Premier League campaign – and being substituted in all of them – Ibe was restricted to a peripheral role with the team he joined for a reported £15million last year.

He started only two further top-flight matches – against Manchester City in February and away at Liverpool last month – and appeared 12 times from the bench.

The 21-year-old was left out of Cherries’ squad entirely for fixtures against Tottenham and Middlesbrough in April, and had to make do with 41 minutes of action across the final four games of the season.

Nevertheless manager Howe, who insisted the transfer figure circulated when Ibe arrived from Liverpool was wildly exaggerated, claimed the young Londoner made significant strides on the training ground during his first year in Dorset.

Howe told the Daily Echo: “Jordon has been fit, I have just had a selection decision to make.

"We put a lot of effort into developing our players individually. All of them are different: some need technical work, others need tactical or physical work, or it could be something else.

"No two players are the same and we are investing a lot of time in these young guys.

"It has been difficult for Jordon to ignore the transfer fee. Even I have been hit by that many times – and what is reported is inflated by the way – so I can imagine that would have been difficult for him.

"We have some really talented footballers here – and Lys Mousset is in the same bracket – who will, hopefully, have long careers. These are key stages for them.

"To play regularly in the Premier League is such a difficult thing, the demand and level are so high – so there will inevitably be an acclimatisation period."

Ibe arrived at Vitality Stadium accompanied by great expectations, after he played 58 times for Liverpool following a dream move to Merseyside from Wycombe Wanderers when he was only 16 years old.

His capture was Cherries' headline piece of business in a summer when they also brought in fellow young guns Mousset and Lewis Cook.

"There is an understanding of Lewis Cook's age and the progression of his career, and there needs to be the same understanding with Jordon – regardless of how much he cost," said Howe.

"It does not change anything. He is still a young player trying to reach his potential and, as long as he shows the right appetite for his work every day, he will do that here.

"If any player shows the right attitude they will get where they want to be.

"It is not important what someone pays for you. It is important what happens every day in terms of making yourself better and I am sure Jordon will be fine."