ASKED why he had chosen to sign for Cherries, Nathan Ake got straight to the point.

“With the help of the manager here I know I can keep improving and become a better player,” said the Dutchman.

In one succinct reply, Ake also unwittingly hit upon the reason why some of the country’s brightest young footballers are gravitating towards Vitality Stadium.

Because, almost by stealth, this is what is happening. Cherries spending £20million on Ake was big news, of course. The capture of Connor Mahoney, not so much.

It was the same back in January when Cherries’ failed bid for Ake dwarfed news of the club pushing through a deal to land teenage goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale from Sheffield United.

Consider also the arrival of Lewis Cook last summer and Eddie Howe is plainly thinking way beyond where his next three points are coming from.

Dissenters to that view would immediately reference the handsome three-year contract 34-year-old Jermain Defoe has in his back pocket.

There has been a lot of hogwash spoken about Cherries' move for the striker. A few barbs uttered about the price paid for Ake, too.

The reality is, Cherries are competing in the Premier League; the upper end of it, if last season is used as the bellwether for what is to come.

To think they could sustain that level of achievement with a team made up entirely of talented young bucks is a quixotic dream.

In fact, to ignore players like Defoe – and indeed Asmir Begovic, who has just turned 30 – purely on the grounds of age, would be bordering on negligence.

To this day, Alan Hansen is reminded of his claim that “you'll win nothing with kids”. The quote will follow the former Liverpool defender to his grave.

But he was right. Hansen was talking about a Manchester United team beaten 3-1 at Aston Villa on the opening day of the 1995-96 season.

Paul Scholes, Gary and Phil Neville, David Beckham and Nicky Butt et al were deemed to have emphatically dispatched Hansen’s words back down his throat when United finished the campaign having won the Double.

And it’s a nice take on things. But it overlooks the fact that the so-called ‘Class of 92’ went into battle every week alongside Peter Schmeichel, Denis Irwin, Steve Bruce, Andy Cole and Eric Cantona.

The drum has never been banged louder for England’s young footballers following the World Cup triumph of the country’s under-20 team – and, to a lesser extent, the under-21s’ run to the semi-finals of the European Championship.

Rightly so, and these players must not be allowed to stagnate and then sink without trace, before resurfacing as answers to quiz questions in 10 years’ time.

That won’t happen to any aspiring tyro under Howe – regardless of the manager's headline purchases, or his desire not to leave his team wanting for experience.

Howe is a rarity – an anomaly even – among Premier League bosses, in that he doesn’t have to sleep with one eye open for fear that someone is going to come along and swipe his job from him.

Such peace of mind enables him to invest considerable time and care into nurturing his young charges.

Antonio Conte, Ake's former boss at Chelsea, for example, would consider such a holistic approach a luxury he cannot afford. Why, the Italian might reason, should he spend countless hours ironing out kinks in his club’s serially successful youth players, when he may well never feast on the fruits of his labours if he risks directing even a scintilla of effort away from his primary assignment – winning every Saturday?

It is easily forgotten that Ake had to wait three months to start a Premier League match for Cherries last season. There was never a hint of discontent, though, merely talk of refining his game on the training ground.

Likewise Cook while he waited his turn in the team. And both players' words rang true when they got their chance on centre stage.

For Ake – a man thirsting for regular action – to throw in his lot with Cherries represents a gigantic show of faith in the club and its manager.

It is the sort of thing that doesn't go unnoticed by Mahoney and others of his ilk.

And Cherries' successful pursuit of the 20-year-old Blackburn winger represented a statement of intent every bit as powerful as the one sounded by the club-record signing of Ake.

The message is clear: Cherries are now a serious Premier League proposition – and preparing for a very special future indeed.