BENIK Afobe has tipped young striker Sam Surridge to follow in the footsteps of Baily Cargill and Matt Worthington in plotting a path into the Premier League.

Defender Cargill became the first Cherries academy graduate to feature in the top flight when he came on as a late substitute in the 1-1 draw at Manchester United in March.

And former academy midfielder Worthington emulated Cargill after coming off the bench for the 1-1 draw at Leicester on the final day of last season.

The stock of Wimborne-raised Surridge, an unused substitute at King Power Stadium, grew after he netted eight goals in 10 appearances for National South outfit Poole Town in the early part of last term.

And having returned from a broken thumb, the highly-rated teenager found prolific form for Cherries under-21s before being promoted to the first-team squad by boss Eddie Howe.

Contracted to Cherries until the summer of 2018, Surridge has impressed fellow frontman Afobe in training.

And Afobe, who came through the youth ranks at Arsenal, believes the teenager's finishing ability will stand him in good stead for a career in the professional game.

He told the Daily Echo: "Sam is a good lad and a good finisher. He works hard. He has come through the youth system here and, hopefully, he can emulate Matt Worthington who came on against Leicester. One day, that could be him.

"He is still young and has a lot to learn. He isn't the finished article but his finishing ability is very high. He likes scoring goals. You can see that every time a finishing drill is put on, he wants to join in.

"He is quite tall and is going to fill out. He will get stronger and his finishing is probably his best attribute, which is a great attribute to have.

"You can see he has the hunger to score goals and he did that last season. Every time he has trained with us, he has done well.

"We have a good academy and a good development squad. They are a good bunch of lads and when they train with us, they never let themselves down and, hopefully, a few of them can make the grade."

Afobe enjoyed a fruitful second half of last season after featuring only intermittently in the early part of the campaign.

The 24-year-old ended 2016-17 with six goals, five of which were scored after Christmas.

Afobe added: "I didn't get my first start until December so it was a bit tough coming on and trying to make an impact. That was very difficult. But the team was doing well.

"The second half of the season was much better for me personally and we went on a great run in the final 11 games. We only lost to Chelsea and Tottenham so that goes to show how well we did.

"We're five games unbeaten now and we want to take that into next season and build on that."