EDDIE Howe has wasted no time in preparing for a third season in the Premier League.

It was after two years of keeping Middlesbrough afloat in the top flight that Steve McClaren ditched his “methodical” approach to player recruitment and began trading in a more glitzy transfer market.

Granted, the Teessiders had been a Premier League club for three years preceding his arrival in 2001. But McClaren told the Daily Echo that “gambling” on the likes of Mark Viduka, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Gaizka Mendieta was his way of elevating Boro into a team capable of winning trophies.

Whether Howe would buy into this approach, only he knows. But the Cherries boss has always said he would never use a birth certificate to evaluate a player’s potential use to him.

And his words have been backed by his deeds with Cherries already having signed Jermain Defoe, who is showing no sign of mislaying his shooting boots at 34.

But which other players of a certain vintage could potentially bring their wisdom and talent to bear on the club’s next Premier League campaign should Howe choose to bolster further?

Wayne Rooney

PROBABLY the Premier League’s most divisive footballer across the past decade, Rooney is only 31, so not necessarily a veteran.

Nevertheless, he was a first-team player at Everton when he was 16 and has a lot of top-level football in his legs.

China and the USA have been touted as possible destinations for the forward, who could call time on his magnificent 13-year Manchester United career this summer.

But he is a competitive beast. Every dismissive review is sure to be stoking the Scouser’s desire to prove he still has what it takes.

England’s record international goalscorer has claimed he wouldn’t join any of United’s top-flight rivals, bar Everton. Nevertheless, a move to Cherries would hardly offend either his current or previous employers.

A spent force? If Rooney decides to stay in England his number of Premier League pursuers will likely run into double figures. So there’s your answer.

Lucas Leiva

LIVERPOOL’S 30-year-old Brazilian is a free agent and set to leave after flirting with the Anfield exit door for the past few years.

He demonstrated exceptional reserves of character to overcome a difficult start to life in England and successfully completed the metamorphosis from Reds boo-boy into bona fide Kop favourite.

An uncompromising midfielder by trade, Lucas is equally adept at centre-half.

Asked to plug a gap there during a League Cup semi-final at Stoke last year, he stepped in as if to the manner born – indeed, his ability to effortlessly switch between positions surely contributed to Liverpool’s reluctance to part with the player before his deal expired.

When Andy Carroll was asked recently to name the toughest central defender he had faced, the West Ham forward fired back Lucas’s name, without a second thought – some reference when you consider Carroll includes Leonardo Bonucci, John Terry and Vincent Kompany among his former direct adversaries.

Bacary Sagna

NOT one to set pulses racing, perhaps, but the former Arsenal defender would bring both exceptional professionalism and big-game nous to Howe’s squad.

An intelligent footballer, the Frenchman would doubtless adapt quickly to the demands the Cherries boss imposes on his charges.

The 34-year-old is one of a handful of Manchester City stalwarts being allowed to depart following the expiry of their respective contracts. He would not walk straight into Howe’s team, by any means, but he would offer first-rate cover right across the back four.

Gareth Barry

THE Everton player is cut from the same cloth as Defoe – supremely dedicated and intent on mixing it at the highest level for as long as possible. John Gregory, Martin O’Neill, Roberto Mancini, Fabio Capello and Roberto Martinez are among an illustrious cast of managers to have made Barry a fixture in their teams.

Former Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez once viewed him as a better option than Xabi Alonso, before being knocked back by Aston Villa when trying to sign the former England international.

Barry’s immaculate positioning, uncanny knack of finding a team-mate with his every pass and expert game management could all prove valuable to a Cherries side aiming to compete with the Premier League’s big guns.

He is steadily being swallowed up by an influx of midfielders into Goodison Park but, at 36, Barry is adamant he can play into his 40th year. All available evidence suggests his confidence is well placed.

Fabian Delph

ONE slightly from left-field, in that he does not belong in the ageing pro category. The risk here lies entirely in the Manchester City man’s injury history.

Cherries have form for taking a chance on a midfielder dogged by fitness problems, however – and form for getting him out on the pitch regularly as well.

It is only two years since City regarded Delph highly enough to add him to their superstar squad and current boss Pep Guardiola was not afraid of using him in the second half of last season.

Delph made his first England start playing alongside former Cherries loan star Jack Wilshere three years ago and will be especially desperate for action with a World Cup finals just 12 months away.

A dynamic performer, with a hammer of a left foot, the 27-year-old would improve any Premier League squad outside the elite few.