Bournemouth are confident they can sign both John Terry and Jermain Defoe as free agents this summer to give Eddie Howe’s team a level of experience to add to a squad that has survived relatively comfortably in the Premier League for two seasons.

Howe has put Bournemouth in a position to sign established players having proved over the last two years that the club is a good destination for those at the beginning of their careers as well as those at the end.

The club’s style of football and location is attractive to both Terry and also Defoe who was a prolific 18-year-old goalscorer at Bournemouth on loan from West Ham in the 2000-2001 season.

During that season, Defoe played alongside Howe in the old Division Two, now League One, when the club finished seventh. Defoe, 34, is leaving relegated Sunderland on a free transfer and Bournemouth, who are prepared to pay competitive wages, are one of his more likely destinations with West Ham also interested.

Defoe and Terry, 36, would potentially be the club’s biggest earners with both likely to command weekly salaries in excess of £100,000 which would represent quite an outlay at a club that has never paid that level of salary before. Defoe is likely to want a contract lasting for more than one year.