BOSS Sean O'Driscoll has opened contract talks with former Cherries loan star Steve Cooke.

The 22-year-old winger, who made 10 appearances for Cherries during two separate spells, met O'Driscoll with his agent Anthony McFarlane at Dean Court on May 20.

Cooke is available on a free transfer after being told he will not be offered fresh terms by Aston Villa when his existing deal runs out at the end of next month.

The former England youth international would be an ideal replacement for Wade Elliott and his return to Dean Court would see him link up with his ex-Villa team-mate James O'Connor.

News of Cherries' interest in Cooke was revealed by the Daily Echo on Tuesday May 17 and although he is also being tracked by his hometown club Walsall, O'Driscoll is hoping he can thrash out a deal to bring him to Dean Court.

O'Driscoll said: "I think he wants to come. He's keen and if we can do something then we will, but like everything else, he's got to fall within our financial constraints.

"He knows the club and he knows the players. He's been here a couple of times so he knows the way we play and he knows he will fit in and he likes the people.

"The crowd were really good to him when he was here before so there are a lot of plusses. It's just whether financially we can come up with something that's agreeable. He's told me what he wants and I've got to go back to him on Monday with a proposal and we'll see where we go."

Cooke made seven appearances for Cherries during his first loan spell in March 2002 and also played another three times after rejoining in January 2004.

He told the Daily Echo: "The talks went well and hopefully something will be sorted out in the next week or so."

Cooke returned to Dean Court for a second spell after Cherries had lost four games on the trot and promptly helped them stop the rot as O'Driscoll's side collected seven points from his three games against Port Vale, Barnsley and QPR.

But although he was keen to extend his stay for a second month, he was forced to return to Villa Park after a troublesome ankle injury flared up.

Cooke also made six appearances during a loan spell with Wycombe last season, although his ankle prevented him from extending his stay at the Causeway Stadium. At the time, Chairboys boss John Gorman said he would be interested in signing Cooke on a permanent deal.

Meanwhile, O'Driscoll has said there is "nothing" in speculation linking him with a move for prolific Eastleigh striker Andy Forbes.

O'Driscoll made tentative enquiries about Forbes 12 months ago, but his interest was apparently put on hold after it was discovered the player was involved in a court case.

"I spoke to (Eastleigh manager) Paul Doswell about a pre-season friendly and also went to watch their play-off semi-final against Braintree and that's as much contact as I've had with them," said O'Driscoll.

The Cherries boss confirmed he had held talks with out-of-contract Swindon midfielder Brian Howard and added: "He knows people here and would fit into the way we play, but again, we would have to put in what we think is a reasonable offer."

However, O'Driscoll added: "My priority is to sort out my own out-of-contract players. They are waiting on the end of a phone so I need to sort them out pretty quickly."