Bournemouth captain Danny Hollands is determined to be fit ahead of schedule after undergoing knee surgery.
The midfielder will miss the start of the new season after going under the knife on Tuesday to cure a long-standing problem.
"It's even more frustrating after being named skipper," he told the Bournemouth Echo. "The same thing happened last season and these things sometimes can't be helped, but it's massively frustrating. I've got to make sure when I come back I'm fit and ready."
He added: "It's going to take quite a while because I will have missed a good six weeks by then, but I know I've got to put in the extra hours.
"I want to be back as soon as possible. I'll work as hard as I can to get back as quickly as I can because I don't want to miss any more minutes than I have to."
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