Eli Junior Kroupi commits to France and turns down Ivory Coast and Portugal

At 20, Eli Junior Kroupi has closed the question that followed his summer. “I have always played for France at youth level. I was born in France and started playing football in France. I cannot see myself going into a culture I do not know!”, the Bournemouth striker told DAZN, before adding: “the France team is the goal.”

Born in Lorient and trained at the club, capped by France at every youth level, scorer of 13 goals in 35 games last season, the striker could also have played for Ivory Coast, whose shirt his father wore twice, or for Portugal through his mother and grandmother. He turned Portugal down in May; Ivory Coast has just been given the same answer.

Nothing before March with the national team

The statement lands mid-recovery: a fracture of the fifth metatarsal picked up in preseason, with a return pencilled in for late October. Zinedine Zidane names his squad on 6 November, before Italy in Milan on the 12th and Turkey in Bordeaux on the 15th in the Nations League. Kroupi will not be on it, and RMC Sport sees a first call-up no earlier than March. The calendar suits everyone: the coach gets three months of Premier League to watch him before deciding.

A few minutes at Old Trafford at best

At Bournemouth, the return is coming sooner. Marco Rose named him in the squad for the trip to Manchester United: “He is fine physically. Maybe we can count on him for a few minutes in Manchester.” I do not see Bournemouth’s price, 3.20 at 1xbet, moving on a few minutes of a striker coming back from injury; our full read of the match is in the preview.

For the Cherries, the useful countdown sits elsewhere: Kroupi is not on the Europa League list, which resumes for him at best in January. Before that comes Leeds on 31 October, then the league. Foot Mercato reports Barcelona interest for the summer of 2027, on the word of the Spanish outlet Sport: nothing official, and the player said nothing about it to DAZN.