CHERRIES boss Eddie Howe heaped praise on new recruits Jefferson Lerma and Diego Rico following their impressive Premier League debuts at Chelsea.

Midfielder Lerma and defender Rico, signed for a combined £35.7million in the summer, both acquitted themselves well in Cherries’ 2-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge.

Lerma, who featured in the World Cup for Colombia, spent the first few weeks of the season working on his fitness and started the midweek win over MK Dons in the Carabao Cup.

Rico, a £10.7m buy from La Liga outfit Leganes, missed Cherries’ first three Premier League games due to a suspension which was carried over from his time in Spain.

He was drafted in at left-back after Charlie Daniels had been ruled out due to a knee injury, while Lerma replaced Andrew Surman, who dropped to the bench.

Howe said: “I thought they both did very well.

“You saw the real qualities that Jefferson is going to bring to the team. He blocked shots and was very good defensively.

“He was very mobile in the middle of midfield and both him and Dan Gosling had a lot of work to get through.

“I thought they did it really well from a defensive perspective so I was very pleased.

“Diego did well. Usually, you would see him attacking a lot more than he did.

“He is a full-back in the mould of Charlie Daniels and Adam Smith but he had to be more reserved.

“He had a lot of defending to do, especially as Chelsea favoured to attack down his side of the pitch. I thought he did really well.”