FORMER England defender Chris Powell could be the man to add much-needed nous to Cherries' youthful backline.

The vastly-experienced left-back, who was capped five times under Sven-Goran Eriksson, trained with the Dorset club yesterday and could join the League Two outfit after being released by Championship side Charlton Athletic.

Manager Kevin Bond has a shortage of recognised defenders in his squad and that situation could soon worsen after the club's long-serving left-back Warren Cummings had a transfer request accepted last week.

The defenders Bond has at his disposal are short of first-team exposure, with Jason Pearce, Ryan Garry and, as a full-back, Lee Bradbury all still learning their trade.

Despite being keen to build a young squad, Bond revealed the opportunity to take a closer look at a player of Powell's pedigree was too good to pass up, especially given Cherries' likely impending points penalty.

"I know what I said with regards to a preference for younger players and Powelly couldn't be further away from a younger player if he tried," said the Cherries boss.

"But this is definitely a here and now short-term situation if it were to happen. I've got two young boys potentially who are going to be playing centre-half, with potentially a young goalkeeper, so you are undoubtedly going to need some experience around them.

"Whilst Bradders is a very experienced player, he isn't a very experienced defender.

"So from that point of view, I wouldn't be unhappy with somebody who is a talker who can help them.

"I'm fully aware that I may appear to have contradicted what I believe my overall philosophy is, which is to bring younger players in, but this is a short-term situation.

"The other side of it of course is that we're not in any normal season whereby you can maybe have plenty of youngsters around and they can learn as they go through the season.

"We're starting the season behind the eight ball and can't afford to be having any devastatingly bad runs because that will finish us.

"We can ill afford to have too many youngsters finding their feet because we can't afford to lose that many games."

Bond believes Lambeth-born Powell, who will be 39 in September, could offer a lot to Cherries' squad.

He said: "Money is not the issue with Chris Powell.

"What is the issue is to continue playing while he believes he can do himself justice and I know he can do himself justice.

"He's such a good professional, he's a fitness fanatic, he's not a drinker and he's such a good influence that I just thought it was too good an opportunity for us to pass up."

Powell will not play against Bristol City tomorrow, but he could appear at Dorchester on Tuesday night.

Bond, who is also running the rule over young Pompey pair Matt Ritchie and Joel Ward, hinted that trialist goalkeeper Shwan Jalal could move a step closer to earning a contract if he impresses against Bristol City.