Eddie Howe explains how Brett Pitman started training with Bournemouth after being frozen out at Portsmouth

The former Blues skipper is firmly on the periphery of things at Fratton Park, having now been omitted from the past nine match-day squads.

Pitman had been a sporadic presence around Pompey’s Copnor Road base from around Christmas and underwent his own regime at home ahead of the League One victory over Sunderland earlier this month.

The forward subsequently began training with his former club, though, after calling in a favour from Howe.

While the Cherries boss didn’t go into detail why Pitman’s fallen out of Kenny Jackett’s Pompey plans, he believes it’s a win-win situation for the Premier League outfit.

Howe told the Bournemouth Echo: ‘Brett rang me and said “would you mind if I trained with your under-21s?”

‘I didn’t go into detail about his own situation, but I said “of course”.

‘It’s good for our young players to see an experienced player of Brett’s calibre coming in and training with them. It can only boost them and do them good to look at him and learn from him.

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‘He’s very close with Shaun Cooper, who is the main coach there, so I think it’s a win-win all round for us, I don't think we lose anything.

‘But also it’s nice to help someone who’s done so much for the football club historically when they needed our help.

‘Without a doubt Brett will always score goals wherever he goes, whoever he plays for. He’s just always had that instinct.

‘He’s still one of the best finishers I’ve ever worked with.’

Pitman arrived at Fratton Park for an undisclosed fee from Ipswich in July 2017.

He's scored 42 goals in 99 appearances and captained the Blues to Checkatrade Trophy glory last term.

His three-year contract expires at the end of this season.