Eddie Howe admits the future of in-demand Bournemouth defender Nathan Ake is out of his control amid interest from Chelsea and Manchester City.
Chelsea inserted a £40m buy-back clause into the centre-back's deal to Bournemouth in 2017 and they are now understood to want to bring Ake back to Stamford Bridge after their FIFA transfer ban was lifted.
Manchester City are also looking to rival Chelsea during the January transfer window, with Pep Guardiola's side having failed to replace Vincent Kompany in the summer and suffered as a result of the long-term injury to Aymeric Laporte.
"It would be obviously my wish to hold onto everybody but some of these things are out of our control," Howe told Sky Sports News.
"We will wait and see. I don't want to give you evasive answers but I am in no control of that at the moment.
"A lot of things with transfers [from] trying to bring players in, trying to keep the squad we have is out of my hands.
"Obviously, we will be doing our best to be as strong as we can into the second half of the season."
Ake was forced off with a hamstring injury in the 3-0 defeat against Liverpool on Saturday and Howe says the club are still waiting for scan results, but admits the initial prognosis "does not look good".
Howe, who was speaking during a visit to a children's hospice in Bournemouth, says the club are aware of the need to quickly rediscover their form after a five-match losing run has left them one point above the relegation zone.
"Every game takes on even more significance," he said.
"I think at this time of year the amount of games that we have in such a short period of time, we can't afford to have a bad Christmas so we are looking to pick up as many points as we can."
Bournemouth visit Chelsea on Saturday, before back-to-back home games against Burnley and Arsenal.