MANAGER Eddie Howe revealed how his injury-hit players had “benefitted massively” from visits to Qatar during their respective rehabilitation periods.

The likes of Adam Smith, Lloyd Kelly and Arnaut Danjuma all last month visited Aspetar, a world-renowned orthopaedic and sports medicine hospital in Doha – to help aid their respective recoveries.

Smith made his return from an ankle ligament injury during Sunday’s home clash with Watford at Vitality Stadium.

Kelly has also this week been pictured back out in training with Howe’s first-team squad, following a thigh injury picked up back in November.

Danjuma is still awaiting his return to first-team action, having suffered a stress fracture to his foot.

A post on the Dutchman’s social media platforms earlier this month did however claim he was “nearly there” when thanking fans for their well wishes.

World Cup winner Kylian Mbappe described as “incredible” the Qatari facility when also visiting last month – Aspetar has a partnership with Mbappe’s club Paris Saint Germain.

And Howe believes sending his players to the impressive complex, alongside Cherries’ own medical staff, would only be beneficial to their recovery.

He told the Daily Echo: “The feedback from the players has been brilliant. They have really enjoyed it and they feel like they have benefitted massively from it.

“It’s a world-class facility and they are going with our members of staff, so we are still having that contact with our players.

“I think the benefit of going out there is the facilities and the people they are seeing and, of course, the lack of distractions at the base there – they are getting treatment all through the day.

“It’s almost like an all-day facility where they are getting the best care. There are so many benefits to that.”

He added: “I think also the change of environment, if you have been injured for a period of time and you are doing the same thing with the same people every day, it’s fine but it can be mentally difficult.

“I think that change of environment definitely helps the players.

“If we can get the players back quicker to us and get them back on the pitch then it makes a huge difference.”

Accredited as a FIFA medical centre of excellence, Aspetar is also partners with Tottenham Hotspur.

Speaking about the facility on the Aspetar YouTube channel, Cherrries winger Danjuma said: “Aspetar for me is a great rehabilitation centre. They have all the means to have a good recovery for an athlete.

“I was here with Lloyd Kelly and Adam Smith. For me, it has been an absolute pleasure to be here. You have all the means to recover a good way.

“Basically everything that should be taken care of, is taken care of here. It’s definitely a recommendation from me. I’m confident that I will be back better.”

Smith added: “As I had been here before, I knew the facilities were amazing and I went to see a specialist called Peter.

“He advised me what to do, so I stayed here for a week. I thoroughly enjoyed my time here.”