Bournemouth forward David Brooks is to undergo ankle surgery and miss the first three months of the new season.
The Wales international rolled his ankle during Bournemouth’s 3-1 pre-season win at Brentford on Saturday.
PA understands Brooks has been booked in for surgery this week, and the Cherries have put a 12-week recovery timescale on the forward who shone last season after making an £11.5million move from Sheffield United.
Brooks scored seven goals in 30 Premier League appearances and was linked with Manchester United and Tottenham.
The injury to the 22-year-old also spells bad news for Wales ahead of their Euro 2020 qualifying programme resuming in September.
Brooks, who was named 2018 Wales player of the year and scored his first international goal during the 2-1 defeat to Croatia in June, will miss his country’s next three qualifiers.
He is out of the visit from Azerbaijan in September, as well as the trip to Slovakia and the home game against Croatia in October.
Bournemouth suffered a second injury blow on Monday when summer signing Lloyd Kelly damaged his ankle during training.
Kelly’s injury is not as bad as first feared but the 20-year-old full-back, who joined from Bristol City for £13million, will definitely miss the Premier League opener at home to Sheffield United on August 10.
Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe is already expected to be without Simon Francis, Lewis Cook, Junior Stanislas, Charlie Daniels and Dan Gosling for the start of the new campaign.
Meanwhile, Cherries defender Brad Smith has extended his loan stay with Seattle Sounders until the end of the MLS season.
Smith, who began his career at Liverpool, originally joined the Sounders last August and has played in 25 MLS matches.
The Sounders currently sit second in the Western Conference standings behind LAFC, with the regular season due to end in October.
