Bournemouth Season Preview 2025/26: Andoni Iraola embarks on his difficult third season

It's your Bournemouth season preview, with the the task at the Vitality Stadium simple: deliver more of the same.

FourFourTwo's Bournemouth season preview

FFT's view

The Plan

Last season’s 56 points was a club-record haul for a second successive campaign, with 9th a joint-best top-flight finish, so the task in 2025-26 is simple: more of the same. Bournemouth’s high-pressing machine is the envy of many (no team won the ball in the opposition’s third more often last season), and such collective endeavour can help cover for key individual exits that began with Dean Huijsen and Milos Kerkez.

Those sales – Huijsen to Real Madrid after a single season; Kerkez to Liverpool after two – are signs of how shrewdly the Cherries operate in the transfer market. Most crucially of all, they’ve kept the mastermind of their progress...

The Coach

Retaining Andoni Iraola, ranked at no.14 in FourFourTwo's list of the best managers in the world right now, is the No.1 mission for Bournemouth. The 43-year-old Basque’s high-intensity philosophy is as popular as his approach: rather than subscribe to the ‘little old Bournemouth’ tag of staying in their lane, he drives attempts to close the gap to the elite.

Key Player

It may be all change at the back, but £40m record signing Evanilson remains up front. The bustling Brazilian’s 12-goal debut season was impressive given it included an eight-week injury absence, and when Justin Kluivert scored three penalties in one game, he’d won all three.

Lesson From Last Year

There’s life after big-name exits. Bournemouth lost striker Dominic Solanke last summer, but found replacements and solutions. Along came Evanilson, for starters. Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo also hit double figures for goals. The latter had more shots (125) than any other Premier League player, though it has earned him plenty of admirers.

Most important is to learn from the end-of-term dip that turned 5th place in February, and a first crack at Europe, into 9th. For two-thirds of the season, Bournemouth were the story, with a first league win over Manchester City and a second 3-0 victory at Old Trafford – but as tired legs bit, they ended with three wins in 13.

The Mood

Their knack of unearthing more hidden gems than your average diamond mine – very handy when annually plundered by the bigger boys – means Dorset’s finest will be optimistic. France Under-21 star Adrien Truffert was Ligue 1’s outstanding left-back for Rennes last term, and in the building even before Kerkez left for Liverpool.

One To Watch

Electric teenage forward Eli Junior Kroupi. Signed from sister club Lorient in February with nine goals in 17 league games, he stayed in France for the rest of the season and banged in another 13 from 13 as Lorient won the Ligue 2 title.

Most Likely To

Stage a ridiculous comeback. The Cherries have won from two goals down or more in each of the past three seasons.

Last August’s 3-2win at Everton, having trailed 2-0with four minutes to go, was the best yet. Lost cause? What’s that?

Least Likely To

See anyone sneaking out. Thanks in part to the above phenomenon, they scored nine stoppage-time goals in 2024-25 – more than any other Premier League club.

FFT VERDICT

10TH Arguably unlucky not to qualify for Europe, the Cherries may find this year trickier due to sales and rivals.

The numbers

Fan view

Can The Cherries maintain their impressive upward curve (and hold on to Iraola?) We got the view from the stands, with podcaster, Sam Davis, AKA @afcbpodcast

Last season was a good marker for European aims.

I won’t be happy unless there’s progress on a new ground. Our Performance Centre is superb, but ‘bums on seats’ is key.

Our most underrated player is Dango Ouattara. Once unpredictable and chaotic, our Burkinabe winger can deputise up top, is scarily quick and is now a consistent threat.

Look out for Julio Soler. Milos Kerkez’s understudy seldom featured last term – his physicality and level is still to be fully tested.

The opposition player I’d love here is Tyler Dibling of Southampton, not least because it’s kind to give a helping hand to recently relegated rivals.

The opposition player who grinds my gears is the once-loved Tyrone Mings. Alex Scott’s jaw is wary of his flying elbows.

The active player I’d love to have back is Nathan Ake. In a heartbeat.

The pantomime villain will be Scott Parker at Burnley. His style here was ‘purposeful’ and his top-flight tenure brief.

The thing my club really gets right is community work with the elderly, schools and people with learning difficulties.

I ’m least looking forward to playing Leeds. We’ve never won at Elland Road – to their credit, their boisterous fans agitate us.

Fans think our gaffer is flawless. Iraola gets the best from every player and loves exciting play, albeit at a defensive cost. And we beat Manchester City.

We’ll finish 12th. There’s a lot of work for Iraola to replicate last season.

This preview originally appeared in FourFourTwo's Season Preview issue which went on sale in July, available here with free delivery