Eddie Howe believes Callum Wilson’s two goals against Fulham have put the Bournemouth striker on course for an England call-up.
The 26-year-old, who has recovered from two serious knee-ligament injuries in the past three years, adjusted to the loss of his regular strike partner Joshua King to again impress at Craven Cottage.
He earned the penalty from which he gave the Cherries the lead and scored again in the 85th minute to demonstrate his ability in front of goal.
But even when in-form Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge has been overlooked by the national team amid intense competition, Howe believes Wilson could be rewarded by Gareth Southgate.
Howe said: “He is certainly going to be in Gareth’s mind, I have no doubt about that.
“Callum just has to keep doing what he is doing. If he continues to score and keeps doing well then it will only be a matter of time. The responsibility is with Callum to keep doing well for us.
“He is in a good place. Every game he has had chances and that is what is so likeable about Callum, he wants to score so he makes the right moves.
“He also does a lot of work for the team and when he got his moments (at Fulham) he was very efficient. He is a big player for the team.”
Nathan Ake has been similarly influential on sixth-placed Bournemouth’s fine start to the season.
But the central defender has dismissed reports that he is a transfer target for Tottenham and Manchester United as “speculation”, insisting he is happy on the south coast.
“It is speculation,” the 23-year-old said. “It is papers. If something is true it is praise for yourself that you are doing something right but just keep doing the same, trying to play well for Bournemouth and see what happens.
“I am just enjoying my time at Bournemouth. It is so good. I am playing, the manager is helping me a lot this season and the fans are good as well, always behind us so, no, don’t be worried.”
Fulham showed little belief when they went behind and, after questioning his team-mates’ desire last week, Tim Ream insisted manager Slavisa Jokanovic was not responsible despite believing they are not “together” as a squad.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with the manager,” the 31-year-old said.
“We’re not playing for ourselves and for each other first and foremost and there’s no togetherness. We give up a goal and heads go down.
“We gave up a second goal and that’s when heads just really dropped. There’s no fight amongst the group right now and I said midweek, we’re not a team at the minute, we’re a group of individuals who don’t look like they want to stay in this league.
“Until that changes, myself included, step up even more, it’s going to stay this way.
“I (also) don’t think you can blame that on the new guys. I don’t know that everyone grasps what the situation is. It’s not any one individual, it’s the group, it’s the collective.”
