SCOTT Parker is backing David Brooks to return to his best and help Cherries stay up next season.

Cherries finished their two-year stint in the Championship with a 1-0 victory at home to Millwall, with Parker’s side remaining professional despite having nothing to play for.

Welshman Brooks has missed large swathes of the season due to the fact he underwent treatment after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma whilst on international duty with Wales last October.

In the build-up to Cherries’ promotion decider with Nottingham Forest on Tuesday, it had been announced that Brooks’ treatment was successful.

With a return to the Premier League to plan for, Parker revealed that he had the 24-year-old in mind for the season ahead.

Cherries’ head coach started: “I think to miss David Brooks for the large part of the season like we have, and to the illness that we all know is a deadly illness was pretty tragic, really.

“It (rocked) every single member of his team.

“He's a valuable member of his team. And to see him back now healthy and well, we can deliver in our Premier League football.

“I believe David Brooks is a player that can grace the Premier League. We’ll get him back fit and well.”

Whilst it appeared Cherries were stumbling over the line in terms of the form in February and March, Parker’s side went eight games unbeaten to see out the season, conceding just four goals.

Reflecting, Parker said: “I think that shows the team’s mentality.

“I think that throughout the season when the chips are down and this team, again, facts, the facts are when his team needed to win Huddersfield away, Blackburn away, Nottingham Forest at home, when they needed to win, they win.

“We won. And again, that's facts.

“So everyone can say, yeah, you should win. You have another eleven men around you, you have another opposition who want to win the game.

“The facts are this team has showed massive, massive balls at times, massive, massive courage.

“And like I said, they deserve it, not me. The players do. That’s because they're the ones who have to run out in the arena.

“I can help, I can develop. Ultimately, when the highest of pressure games have come on, they've managed to do that.”