Bournemouth - 26/27 Draft FPL Pre-Season Thoughts

Written 17th July 2026 · Everything here very much subject to change, subscribe to the podcast/YouTube channel for all the latest.

This blog is part of Draft FC's Team-by-Team 2026/27 early pre-season series — see all 20 previews in one place here

6th place, but whose 6th place?

The best season in Bournemouth's history - 6th on 57 points, European football for the first time ever and an unbelievable 18 draws along the way (equalling the PL record). And the reward? Liverpool take their manager. Iraola has gone, Marco Rose is in on a 3-year deal in what must be one of the most civil managerial changes in league history. The difficulty is that much of Bournemouth's previous success, and the underlying numbers of their players will largely belong to Iraola. Iraola's man-to-man press drove everything here: the xG profile, the chaos, the clean-sheet swings and potentially half the fantasy value on this roster. Rose is at least a stylistic cousin - Salzburg and Leipzig gegenpressing, a transition-heavy 4-2-3-1 - so it shouldn't be a total reset (by design). But minutes, roles and set-piece duties all get re-rolled a bit under a new head coach and every Bournemouth stat deserves a small discount until we've seen it replicated under Rose.

The attack already took its big hit back in January with Semenyo's sale to Man City for £64m, and those 20-odd goal involvements haven't visibly been replaced (at least not with any long-term data). Senesi has gone too, on a free to Spurs and Alex Scott has serious admirers around the league. That one would sting - he's a proper all-rounder with 32 defcon points last season and I like him a lot (he served my draft team proud at times last year!).

A new Premier League superstar?

With Semenyo's departure, it left the door open for a new right winger - enter Rayan. Signed somehow for only £25m, the 19 year old Brazilian winger who started the majority of Brazil's World Cup campaign. I haven't fully looked into the background of that deal but something doesn't smell right there! Either way, it's a huge addition for Bournemouth, who are rapidly becoming THE development club for the big boys, which will mean we shouldn't be too surprised when young European prospects are signing for the Cherries (Antonio Silva is the latest one). From January, Rayan posted 5.4pts per 90, very consistent albeit the limited sample size (15 appearances) and 0.37 NPxGI per 90 (reasonable but not blow your socks off level). The thing that gives me the most pause for thought, was how little adjustment time he needed. He looked good the moment he landed. It would have been nicer had this not been a World Cup year for him to continue usual pre-season training, but either way, we would expect an up-tick in form once players get into year 2 and are settled (I'm aware he came in January so not technically year 2 yet).

The other player who could have rightly sprung to mind when thinking 'Bournemouth + superstar' is Eli Kroupi Jr. 6.9 FPL pts per 90 was highest amongst their regulars. 13 goals in his first campaign, again still only 19 years old, is a phenomenal 'floor' to post with less than half a full-season's worth of minutes. Rightly so, he is already being linked to other clubs for big money. Another very useful player we'll come on to is Adli, with similar underlying numbers to Rayan. An attack containing all 3 of these guys is enough to keep Bournemouth competing for European qualification, but I do wonder if the fact they do have reliability in other players will make them more amenable to taking the cash if a substantial offer does land for Kroupi.

The Tavernier thing

When left to its own devices, our model has produced a surprising headline here - Marcus Tavernier at 160+ expected points, one of the very highest projections in the entire league. And yes, it is mad (this is why I get paid the big bucks rather than just selling you all a spreadsheet), but it's less mad than it first looks. For those unfamiliar with NPxGI - non-penalty expected goal involvement, the sum of the chances a player takes and creates without spot-kicks inflating it - Tavernier posted 12.1 of it last season alongside 137 points, all while doing an enormous amount of unglamorous off-ball work. In the latter half of the season his NPxGI per 90 was 0.58, which is up there with the best attackers in the league. There was a reason he was a manager favourite and he is quietly far more productive per 90 than his reputation suggests. The entire case rests on Rose deploying him the way Iraola did, so if preseason shows him central to the new setup, he's lovely value a few rounds after the household names go. Quietly elite and very much under the radar.

The rest of the board

The other attacker well worth considering is the more experienced Amine Adli. He was there all last year and had to rely predominantly on substitute appearances behind Semenyo. So despite 31 appearances he ended up posting fewer minutes than Rayan. Still with what we saw, very similar output to Rayan, 5.6 FPL pts per 90, but far less consistency (owing to the fact he came off the bench so much). He will certainly be slotted in somewhere in my draft rankings.

Evanilson is an interesting case study in reading regression properly, he was unlucky by the underlying numbers, finishing about 5 goal involvements short of his xGI, which normally screams bounce-back. But even with the bad luck argument, he produced 0 hauls and a best week of 8 points all season. Unlucky and capped is a difficult combination to pay for. The nailed minutes keep him relevant, as does the scarcity as the position, he could be an annoying reach we have to make on draft day. A move away for Kroupi Jr may help his value though.

James Hill turned into an absolute defcon monster in the back half of last season - 30 defcon points, and he went from waiver stock to must-hold in most leagues. Truffert was quietly excellent too at left-back with 165 points. The issue is that the back 4 will look different this year, so will need to see how well they are as a unit to bring home the bread and butter clean sheet points. Scott remains solid when needed, 17 useful weeks (4+ FPL points) from 34 starts is very useful indeed.

The opening run

And now the cold shower, possibly the toughest opening run in the league. City away, Everton at home, Newcastle away, Brentford at home, Liverpool at home, Chelsea away. Fairly brutal and it arrives alongside a new manager bedding in and Europa League Thursdays stacked on top. The defenders may not be worth picking up on draft day if they're unlikely to start much for you in the opening weeks. Expect to see these guys drafted in the mid rounds and quickly appear on our most waivered out lists. Hill is perhaps the only exception as the tougher games should make it somewhat easier for him to stack the defcon numbers.

Early verdict

A real, well-coached team that finished 6th on merit - but it was Iraola's team, the fixture computer has sent them down a mine for 6 weeks and Europe is a brand-new problem for a relatively small squad size. Personally, I still respect the ability of the players, the likes of Rayan, Tavernier, Adli, Evanilson & Kroupi will all have favourable spots on my draft board.

Stay shook,

Draft FC Mitch

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