JOSHUA King admits his "long-term dream is to play Champions League football" but insists "I am enjoying my time" at Cherries.

The striker, 27, joined Cherries from Blackburn in 2015 and has netted 47 goals in 173 appearances for the club.

But the Norway international revealed his desire to return to European competition having made one substitute appearance in the Champions League for Manchester United at Galatasaray in 2011.

King told Goal: “I wanted to make it at Man Utd but I didn’t, so I took a step back to Blackburn in the Championship. At Blackburn, I didn’t get given a chance. Then Eddie (Howe) brought me to Bournemouth. Since then, I have not looked back.

“It's my dream to play for a top club one day, but I am enjoying my time at Bournemouth. I'm learning a lot with Eddie Howe. I enjoy being with my team-mates, who also make me a better player as well. My long-term dream is to play Champions League football.

“If I retire and look back and I haven’t played in the Champions League then I will be disappointed in myself. Right now I am enjoying my time at Bournemouth, but I think we can do even better than we are currently.

"We have a great squad, team and staff. It's just little things we need to sort to turn draws into wins.”

King also revealed Cherries last season set themselves a target of clinching a Europa League spot.

Howe's charges looked well placed after racking up 20 points from their opening 10 matches, but after struggling in the second half of the campaign, they slipped to finish in 14th.

“Last year we set ourselves the goal to get into the Europa League and this year we are taking it game-by-game. I think that’s a lot better for focus. We tried to reach the Europa League from the start of the season but then we had 38 games to play and you can’t control what happens.

“You can only control what you yourself do and take it game-by-game to get the three points every time. Then anything is possible. When you have got 10 games left at the end of the season, then you can start thinking this is actually possible.

“It's our fifth year in the Premier League now. In the first few years it was easier to get carried away but all of us have been in the league for a while now.

“We know that we should block out the media noise to focus on ourselves. We know things will automatically happen if we work hard. Last season, I remember there was a bit of talk in the dressing room about breaking the top six because we were amazing in the first 10 games.

“This season there’s been nothing in the changing room really."

He added: "When everyone is fit and on our day then I think we can beat anyone. That includes Liverpool or Manchester City.”