How hard should the Cherries fight to keep their players?

We have been hearing varying things from AFCB and the media about the club's star players being sought after by various Premiership and Championship teams. So far Lewis Grabban is the only player to have seen an official bid come in and for it to be accepted by the club. So should the club now start putting up barriers and say no to some of these bids if more come in for a squad that the club said it wants to keep together?

Steve Cook is said to be a target for Burnley.

Premiership football is something that Cook will surely find hard to turn down.

Eddie Howe was quite clear that he wanted to work with the same players next season with a few additions. But he will know that sometimes not everyone's ambitions are the same and the lure of a higher wage bill could mean that he has to find a few players more for next year's campaign. The Cherries have always needed to sell players to keep the books straight and while Maxim Demin may be able to fund a squad and facilities that are the best we have ever seen at AFCB, there comes a time when a club should not block career progression and the Cherries always seem pretty fair to their players in this regard.

Sometimes though you wonder if saying no a few times to clubs with bids for players is such a difficult thing to do. One imagines that such decisions are made at board level and the finances of the club are always a major talking point along with the options for replacements and their potential cost. It takes a long time to get a squad together though and Eddie Howe has something here at Dean Court that he can build on, but it is build on and not rebuild. I would be surprised if we do not have more clubs like Fulham, Crystal Palace and others trying to pull a few more players away from AFCB, after all we have a young squad with lots of potential and players that desire to do well. My only wish is that AFCB do not lose more than two of their first eleven this summer. 

It will be a long summer with players like Steve Cook and Eunan O'Kane likely to be talked about in the back pages, but if the Cherries can replace players with quality they will be in a good position to try and achieve more next season.  Eddie Howe has never been in a position to have large funds available for him for players but with the price tags on the current crop of AFCB players going up he is likely to have a good budget to go and get the players he wants to add to the team.