NATHAN Ake insists “no-one is really worried” about Dominic Solanke’s wait for a first competitive Cherries goal, adding “it will come, 100 per cent”.

The striker, 22, arrived from Liverpool in January for a fee of around £17.5million and has made 16 appearances for Eddie Howe’s men.

Despite scoring twice in pre-season, Solanke is yet to register an official goal for Cherries, again drawing a blank during Sunday’s 3-1 win over Everton where he was handed his fourth start for the club.

The number nine had a prolific scoring record during his time in the lower age groups of international football, netting 36 times for England from under-16s through to under-21s.

But he has found the challenge more testing in English club action, scoring just once in all competitions from 44 appearances for Chelsea, Liverpool and Cherries. That came at Anfield on the final day of the 2017-18 campaign in a 4-0 win against Brighton.

However Ake, who saw Solanke net regularly when the pair were coming through the youth ranks at Chelsea, is not concerned about the striker’s lack of goals.

Discussing the forward’s performance against Everton, Ake said: “I think Dominic did really well.

“You can see it in training every day and you could see it when he was younger at Chelsea, the technical ability he has and the goalscoring ability he has is of a great level.

“I think we’ll really enjoy a lot from him this season. More is going to come, but on Sunday you could see the way he holds up balls is very important for the team, to keep the ball up there and to be strong.”

Ake added: “He was a little bit younger than me, so he played in ages under me a little bit (at Chelsea).

“We didn’t play too many games together but obviously I know him from there. He scored so many goals, like 40, crazy.

“It’s good to see (him at Cherries), he’s a great lad as well. He works very hard, even at the start of the season he didn’t get too many chances and to keep working like that in training every day, keep doing well. He deserved it (to start) on Sunday and he did really well.”

Asked if he was confident Solanke would find the net soon, Ake said: “It will come. I think no-one is really worried about that.

“I think it will come, 100 per cent.”

Solanke began in a front two alongside Callum Wilson against Everton for his first top-flight start since February as Joshua King moved out wide.

And Wilson urged his strike partner not to panic about his goal drought.

He said: “We’re all rooting for him to get his goal. Like I do, you just be patient, focus on playing well and it will come.

“It was good to play alongside him and he’s got some good qualities. He deserved his chance on Sunday and he took it.”