Bournemouth striker Eli Junior Kroupi will be out for at least three months after undergoing surgery on a broken metatarsal, disrupting the club's pre-season plans.
The 20-year-old fractured his fifth metatarsal during a training camp in Austria and flew back to England for surgery on Wednesday.
Kroupi has drawn transfer interest this summer from Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Tottenham and Manchester City. Bournemouth have insisted throughout that he is not for sale, and have taken the same stance over Alex Scott, who is wanted by Chelsea and Manchester United, as the club tries to keep a competitive squad for new coach Marco Rose.
Kroupi joined Bournemouth from Lorient and scored 13 goals last season, the most by a teenager in a debut Premier League campaign, surpassing the previous record held by Robbie Fowler and Robbie Keane.
New coaching addition
Bournemouth have also confirmed that Patrick Eibenberger will join Rose's backroom staff as first-team coach ahead of the new season. Eibenberger leaves RB Leipzig and reunites with Rose, having previously worked with him at Borussia Dortmund, Borussia Monchengladbach and Red Bull Salzburg.
Marco Kurth, assistant head coach, Frank Geideck, assistant coach, Fabian Friedrich, technical coach, and Frederic De Boever, goalkeeping coach, had already been confirmed as part of Rose's staff.
