BOSS Eddie Howe hopes Cherries can ward off interest in prized assets Nathan Ake and Lewis Cook so he can continue to "build a team around them".

Ake and Cook have both enjoyed outstanding individual campaigns and played starring roles in helping Cherries secure a fourth successive season in the Premier League.

Defender Ake, Cherries' club record £20million signing from Chelsea, swept the board by winning all the club's player-of-the-year awards in his first season at Vitality Stadium.

And midfielder Cook, a £7m buy from Leeds two years ago, capped his exploits for Cherries by forcing his way into the reckoning to earn a place in England's World Cup squad.

With Howe predicting a "big transfer window" for Cherries, he knows keeping the likes of Ake and Cook will be key for the club's future.

Asked whether he had any concerns about losing either player, Howe replied: "If it happens, it happens and there is nothing I can do about it.

"Both players have had outstanding seasons and our wish would be to keep them, build the team around them and not sell them.

"You want players performing well at Premier League level because, ultimately, that is how you are going to win games.

"If they do that consistently then naturally they will be linked with other clubs. That is part of the process and we have always had that here."

Howe said he and his staff were looking to unearth the next Ake or Cook with the club's recruitment policy continuing to focus on promising young players.

Discussing his plans for the summer, Howe said: "We are going to need to do certain things and are going to need to be active in the market.

"We have seen the emergence of some really important young players this season. It is very important the team continues to evolve and we can’t stand still.

"We are never going to be able to sign established Premier League players who are in their prime. It is just not going to happen and we are well aware of that so have to choose a route to go down in terms of our recruitment.

"More often than not, we have tried to sign young players and develop and improve them so when they are in their prime, they can step into the Premier League and do very well.

"It won't always work and you will get one or two wrong along the way. In the main, that is probably still the healthiest way for us to recruit because you get the long-term benefits when they are established.

"Ryan Fraser would be a really good example of possibly how we look to recruit. He took a long time to get into the team, as we knew he would when we signed him.

"We signed him when we were in League One but he is now an established Premier League player and doing really well. Hopefully, we will get the benefit long term of his recent success.

"How you identify those players is the tricky bit."