Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe has defended the club's transfer policy.

Howe has received criticism in some quarters for paying sizeable transfer fees for young players and then not immediately blooding them in the Premier League.

He said: "We can't buy ready-made and established players who are doing well in the Premier League because they are well out of our financial bracket.

"We have been hit with a bit of criticism in recent years because we have signed players for decent transfer fees and they haven't been seen for a while.

"I don't think people can quite understand what the thought process behind that is.

"It is about developing, improving and, hopefully, integrating them into the team. Then, you have an established Premier League player of good age who is ready to do the club well over a long period of time.

"For us, young players have always been the core principles behind our foundations and that will never change."

Meanwhile, Aussie duo Adam Federici and Brad Smith are expected to feature when Cherries host Bury in the Premier League Cup at Vitality Stadium.

Federici suffered a knee injury on international duty in September and returned to training in December.

Smith, a £3million signing from Liverpool in July 2016, lined up in Cherries' Carabao Cup games against Birmingham and Brighton and played the first half of the 2-2 draw with Wigan in the FA Cup last month.