Is 'accomplished finisher' Kroupi Bournemouth's latest hidden gem?

Bournemouth appear to have done it again.

The Cherries have made a happy habit of unearthing hidden gems in recent seasons, helping the likes of Milos Kerkez, Dean Huijsen, Illia Zabarnyi and Antoine Semenyo blossom from highly promising youngsters into established top-flight stars.

Some of those players have gone on to make big-money moves elsewhere, with the Cherries pocketing £144.5m from the sales of Kerkez, Huijsen and Zabarnyi to Liverpool, Real Madrid and Paris St-Germain respectively.

Whether Eli Junior Kroupi ends up following in the footsteps of the aforementioned trio remains to be seen, but the young striker certainly appears to be on the right track.

The 19-year-old Frenchman followed up recent goals against Leeds and Crystal Palace with a thunderous strike in Bournemouth's 2-0 victory over Nottingham Forest on Sunday, which lifted the Cherries up to second in the table.

The 30-yard piledriver was Kroupi's fourth of the season so far - across Europe's top five divisions, Eintracht Frankfurt's Can Uzun is the only teenager to net more league goals.

"He's an accomplished finisher already," Danny Murphy told BBC Sport after Sunday's win. "He has just come in and it seems like he already knows what his role is in the team.

"He is good without the ball, good on the press and works hard - but when Bournemouth attack, he gets himself in good areas.

"Bournemouth have got a lot of players who, even with the ones they have sold, are becoming real stars in the Premier League. Their recruitment is just phenomenal."

Signed in February to provide cover for first-choice frontman Evanilson, Kroupi is no stranger to breaking records.

The Lorient academy graduate became the youngest-ever player to appear for the club's first team when he made his debut on the final day of the 2022-23 season, aged just 16 years and 345 days.

His first goal for the Brittany outfit - in a 5-3 defeat at Nantes in September 2023 - made him the youngest scorer in the club's history, breaking the previous record set by former Swansea City, West Ham United and Forest forward Andre Ayew.

And little over two weeks after that, Kroupi became the youngest player to score twice in a Ligue 1 game since 1974 in his team's 3-3 draw at Lyon.

The son of former Ivorian footballer Eli Kroupi, who won the Coupe de France with Lorient in 2002, the teenager played a key role in firing the club back into Ligue 1 at the first attempt last term, ending his final season in France on 23 goals in all competitions.

A calf injury to Evanilson, coupled with Enes Unal's long-term absence with a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), has presented Kroupi with an early opportunity to impress his new employers - one he has grasped with both hands.

"Junior is a finisher," Andoni Iraola told BBC Match of the Day. "His strength is that he smells the opportunities. His finishing is very good with his right foot and left foot.

"He has to add more to his game. He's coming to the Premier league and we still want more things.

"But if he helps us with goals like this it's always very welcome."

Bournemouth fans could be forgiven for taking one or two souvenir screenshots of the Premier League table after Sunday's comfortable victory.

The Cherries' tally of 18 points after nine games is their most at this stage of a top-flight season, surpassing the 17 they picked up under Eddie Howe in 2018-19.

Their eight-game unbeaten run is the longest in the Premier League, while only Newcastle and Arsenal have kept more clean sheets than Iraola's side, who registered their fourth shut-out of the campaign against Forest.

"They are just a delight to watch because they are so energetic," Murphy said. "They defend in numbers in games when they have to, but they don't park the bus - generally their attitude is to go and win games.

"They have been a breath of fresh air and there is nothing at the moment to suggest they are going to fall away. They are up there on merit at the moment."

Those who have watched Iraola's post-match interviews on a regular basis, however, will not have been surprised to hear the 43-year-old play down his team's remarkable start.

"It's just a start," he said. "This season, the differences between teams are so small. We now have [Manchester] City away and [Aston] Villa away before the [international] break, so it's going to be difficult to earn more points."

Owner Bill Foley was in attendance at Vitality Stadium on Sunday, reportedly before talks with Iraola about extending the Spaniard's contract, which is due to expire at the end of the current season.

But Iraola, unsurprisingly, is refusing to look too far ahead.

"[The owner and I] talk a lot," he said. "Even when he's not here, we're in contact.

"We have a really good relationship. There's going to be time to talk, but this is just the start of the season."