CAPTAIN Steve Cook is relishing the opportunity to line-up against close friend Jayden Stockley and insisted: “He’s a big character.”

Stockley, a product of Cherries’ academy, could feature against his boyhood club when Preston North End visit Vitality Stadium in the Championship tomorrow.

Poole-born Stockley started his youth career at Cherries and had an array of loan spells before leaving for Aberdeen in 2016.

Before then, Eddie Howe famously had to ask for permission from Lytchett Minster School for Stockley to be part of his squad as a teenager, when the club was in League Two.

Cook featured alongside striker Stockley for Cherries back in 2012, himself having joined from Brighton.

“Jayden is one of my real close friends,” the Hastings-born centre-back told the Daily Echo.

“I am really looking forward to coming up against him – I’ve never played against him.

“I feel he probably doesn’t get utilised enough at Preston. I am probably going to be a little bit biased.

“But he’s a very good player, a very good finisher. He has got a great presence – I am looking forward to playing against him.

“He’s a funny, funny kid so, it’ll be nice to catch up as well.”

He added: “I remember when he first went to Exeter – I think he was there for a day and set up a WhatsApp group there and got things going.

“He’s a big character. I know the lads up at Preston love him there.

“He’s got a great family now. He’s settled down and done extremely well to go from League Two up to the Championship and score goals as well.

“I am really pleased for him. Hopefully he doesn’t have a great day on Tuesday and hopefully we can make him run a little bit!”

Stockley’s sublime form for Exeter earned him a move to North End for a reported £750,000 in January 2019.

He has since gone on to score eight times in 63 games for the Lillywhites.

Jason Tindall shared the bench as a player with Stockley, during the latter stages of his career.

The Cherries boss said: “Jayden was a young man with great talent.

“We promoted him to the first team at a very young age when he was here and he was in the first-team environment for some time training with us.

“He was certainly a young player at the time you knew had really good attributes as a striker. You felt if he fulfilled the attributes he had – he would go on to have a good career.

“It didn’t quite work out for him at Bournemouth, he had to go out on loan – he went to Woking and did very well.

“Then he went to Exeter and I think that’s where his career took off. He scored a lot of goals and was a great servant for them during his time there.

“He got himself a good move to Preston, where I think if you asked the majority of Preston fans and players how’s he settled in? Or how’s he done? I think they will give him a pretty good reference.

“He’s certainly a player that carries a threat and a player we’ve got to be ready for.”