CHERRIES talisman Dominic Solanke deserves all the plaudits coming his way according to his head coach Andoni Iraola, who believes the striker is “really happy” amidst transfer speculation.

Solanke has already matched his best tally for goals in a single Premier League season, the one-time England international reaching six strikes in 12 matches this term.

This summer Cherries rejected an informal enquiry from fellow top-flight outfit West Ham, with the Hammers again linked to Solanke in recent weeks.

At the start of this season, Cherries tied down Solanke until the end of the 2026-2027 with his second contract in two seasons.

Asked how he felt about the speculation surrounding his star turn, Iraola replied: “No, I think it’s very good.

“He received some recognition because I think he really deserves it. He is the best, the first one to work, the first one to try to help his teammates.

“And it's not like he has played last two or three games very well. No, I think he has been really constant in his performances and he really deserves all recognition.

“Obviously I think he's really happy here. He has shown it also, renewing his contract not so much time ago. So I think it's really nice for us.”

Iraola went on to stress that Solanke’s importance to Cherries went past his goal contributions.

He restarted: “The feeling I've had with him since day one I was here has been very, very good. He has a lot of different skills.

“He can adapt to different ways of playing and he's very complete to be a number nine.

“Probably we talk more about him when he scores the goals, but his performances have been more or less the same level from the first day of the season.”