Bournemouth midfielder Tyler Adams has been ruled out until 2024 with a hamstring injury.
Adams spent a season with Leeds United before completing a £23m move to the Cherries in the summer transfer window.
The USA international had to wait to make his Bournemouth debut due to a hamstring problem which had kept him out of action since March.
Adams made his Cherries bow in September's EFL Cup victory against Stoke City, after coming off the bench to feature for the final 20 minutes.
However, Adams has not featured in Bournemouth's previous two matches since the cup win due to a recurrence of the hamstring injury which cut short his 2022-23 season.
Speaking ahead of Saturday's Premier League home meeting with Wolverhampton Wanderers, Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola revealed that Adams is expected to be out until February after undergoing hamstring surgery.
"[He] wasn't feeling 100% - now he has the need to start again from zero," Iraola told reporters. "[He will be] out for three, four months, [but] once he's with us he'll be 100%.
"When you sign a player there are different things going on and difficult decisions to take but even with injuries it's very good for us to have a player like Tyler playing for Bournemouth."
Iraola was able to offer a positive update on the fitness of Chris Mepham, Lloyd Kelly and Alex Scott, with the latter still waiting to make his debut following his summer arrival from Bristol City.
The Bournemouth boss added: "I think from the previous game against Everton, we recover Chris Mepham, he played with the [Wales] national team.
"I think Lloyd Kelly has been training also with the group. So he's doing well, and we also have the last one to train with the group that is Alex Scott. That is a good sign. He's doing well, he's feeling well."
Bournemouth are set to face their former boss Gary O'Neil, who guided the club to safety last season before being replaced by Iraola.
The former Rayo Vallecano manager is still searching for his first Premier League victory after drawing three and losing five of his opening eight league matches.
Bournemouth head into the weekend in 19th position in the Premier League table with one point separating them from safety. body check tags ::
