BOSS Eddie Howe revealed his admiration for former team-mate Sam Vokes and admitted: “He is a difficult player to stop.”

The Burnley frontman could line up against his former club when Cherries make the trip to Turf Moor in the Premier League on Sunday (3pm).

Lymington-raised Vokes made his senior debut alongside Howe as a 17-year-old when Cherries beat Nottingham Forest 2-0 in League One.

He played 59 games and scored 16 goals for the Dorset club before being snapped up by Wolves in 2008.

Vokes linked up with Howe once again when he joined Burnley in July 2012. He has scored 60 times in 238 games for the Lancashire outfit.

Howe told the Daily Echo: “I have always had a real soft spot for Sam. I signed him at Burnley on the back of what I had seen in his early career.

“He just needed a home and a club to invest time in him and make him feel wanted – he hasn’t looked back at Burnley.

“He is a difficult player to stop because he is technically very good and I think that often goes missed with Sam.

“He is very good with his feet, strong, has a really good frame to use as a building block for attacks and aerially, of course, is his main strength.

“He is a little bit like Steve Fletcher but is a lot better version, without criticising Fletch too much!

“When crosses come into the box he is where he needs to be. He is a real goal threat and certainly a player we need to be aware of.”

Wales international Vokes has featured in Burnley’s past eight league fixtures and came off the bench to replace the injured Ashley Barnes during Sunday’s 5-0 defeat at Arsenal.

Reflecting on his early memories of the striker, Howe added: “In the first sighting of Sam I thought ‘wow, physically what a specimen’. Then he backed that up in the early training sessions we had with him.

“Technically he was good, he was aerially good and you think ‘where has this player been?’ because it was the first we had seen of him.

“A lot of young players do well in training, then the game comes and it’s a little bit too much for them. Sam was almost inspired by the occasion and the challenge of the games.

“You had no doubts about his ability to handle things physically. He needed to improve his fitness as a young kid, I remember he could only last half an hour in the very early stages of his career.

“Then he built his endurance and is now performing really well in the Premier League. He has had a great season.”

Vokes has scored four times for Burnley in the top flight this campaign, his latest goal came during last month’s 2-1 win at Watford.

He found the net for the Clarets when Cherries beat Burnley 2-1 at Vitality Stadium 12 months ago.