Kone to miss Elephants qualifiers

Kone has made 27 appearances for Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast striker Arouna Kone is likely to miss the Elephants' next two 2010 World Cup qualifiers, and the first six weeks of the Spanish season.

Kone, who plays for La Liga side Sevilla, injured his knee in Ivory Coast's friendly against Guinea on 20 August in Paris.

He will have an operation carried out by a specialist in the Belgian capital Brussels on 1 September, and is expected to be out of action for four to six weeks.

Ivory Coast play away to Mozambique on 7 September, and their final game is at home to Madagascar on 12 October.

Kone will certainly miss the first of those games, and may well not be fit for the second.

The striker will also sit out the beginning of the Spanish season, which starts this weekend.

Sevilla have ruled him out for at least the first five matches of the season, which starts this weekend.

Kone has been going through a time where he has struggled with his form, and there were expectations that Sevilla would sell the player.

Towards the end of last season, his drop in form led Sevilla's club president to give him a humiliating telling-off in front of television cameras.