ASMIR Begovic admitted he had “missed the buzz” of playing regularly in the Premier League having been left on the fringes at Chelsea.

Goalkeeper Begovic got the nod for Cherries' opener at West Brom on Saturday following his £10million summer move from Stamford Bridge.

The Bosnia and Herzegovina international played more of a back-up role during two years with the Premier League champions and insisted he felt “too good not to play”.

Chelsea paid £8million to take Begovic from Stoke in 2015 but he had been unable to displace Belgian Thibaut Courtois.

He started only two top-flight matches during the 2016-17 campaign but did feature 17 times during his first season in west London, owing to an injury to Courtois.

With his game time limited, Cherries boss Eddie Howe swooped to capture Begovic.

The 30-year-old produced a solid display on his first league appearance with Cherries, pulling off some sharp saves in the first half to deny Jay Rodriguez in the 1-0 defeat at the Hawthorns.

Begovic told the Daily Echo: “I missed the buzz, I missed the competition. I missed competing and everything about it, it’s nice to be back playing.

“There’s nothing like playing Premier League football, week in, week out. That was something I missed and wanted to do again.

“This opportunity is a great one for me and, hopefully, this will be a good season for us.”

He added: “I had an amazing experience at Chelsea and am very thankful for that.

“It was a great experience but it was time to move on.

“I feel like I am in my best years. I felt too good not to play.

“The more games you play, the better rhythm you get. I think I am getting to know my team-mates each and every day and everything the manager wants.

“It’s great to be back. Did I expect the journey to go the way it did? You probably don’t but it’s nice to be back.

“It’s a great club, there’s great fans and I think it’s going in the right direction. We have a really good squad and, hopefully, there are good times ahead.”

While Begovic realises there is competition for his place on his return to Dorset with the likes of Artur Boruc and Adam Federici also in contention, he believes the goalkeepers’ union at Cherries is close-knit.

“We have a great group with great coaches in Neil Moss and Anthony White,” he added.

“We work hard and set a good tempo each and every day as well as a good standard. It’s a pleasure to be part of that.

“We have got to know each other really quickly over the past six weeks.

“I learn from Artur, I learn from Feds, we try to push some wisdom down to Aaron Ramsdale. It’s all about bouncing ideas off each other.”