Premier League club to sign 18-year-old compared to Neymar

Robin Bairner

• 1 Feb 2025 14:30 GMT
• 7 min read

Bournemouth are set to complete a €10 million transfer for a teenager who has been favourably compared to Neymar.

The Cherries are set to take advantage of their link up with French Ligue 2 side Lorient to snap up Eli Junior Kroupi, who will remain in Brittany until the end of the season.

Bournemouth have already snapped up Dango Ouattara from their sister club, yet Kroupi could prove to be an even shrewder signing, with the teenager having already impressed in his homeland, where he played top-flight football, becoming the youngest player ever to score a double in a Ligue 1 game.

“He’s got a top profile which is rare on the market and is confirming his potential,” Lorient sporting director Laurent Koscielny, a former Arsenal centre-back, told L’Equipe. “But he keeps his feet on the ground because his family base is solid.”

The drop down a league has been met with ease by the teenager, who has nine goals and added two assists in 17 matches.

“Eli has this ability to step up to the level that’s asked of him,” Arnaud Le Lan, Lorient’s academy chief, explained. “With the pros, it took a little longer than with the youths.

“We know what can happen in a career, but if he keeps his values, he will succeed wherever he goes.”

What type of player is Kroupi?

Kroupi, who was born in Lorient, is an exciting attacker, who may be profiled as a centre-forward but has been compared to Neymar due to the flair and imagination that he possesses on the ball. There is energy to his game, too, and he does not shirk defensive work.

He has been Ligue 2’s second-best striker, according to data analytics firm SciSports, which rates his passing an dribbling particularly highly.

Kroupi vs Ligue 2 centre-forwards : 2024/25

While the €10m fee may seem significant for a player who is only practising in France’s second division, Bournemouth are, in fact, getting a bargain.

Kroupi’s Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) stands at €13.9m and has touched as high as €18.5m earlier in his career. The youngster is certainly going to be one to watch when he finally hooks up with the Cherries in the summer.