Bournemouth are in Europe — but their manager just left
Bournemouth finished 6th in 2025/26 with 57 points and qualified for the Europa League for the first time in club history. The celebration was short-lived: Andoni Iraola — the manager who built the squad and led the European-qualification push — left for Liverpool in early June 2026. As of 15 June, Bournemouth are managerless. For Fantasy Premier League managers, this is a "wait for clarity" club: the system identity that produced Bournemouth's underlying numbers is no longer in place, and the replacement's style will determine which assets are pickable.
Eli Kroupi Jr — the differential attacking pick
Antoine Semenyo — 17 Premier League goals and third in the 25/26 Golden Boot — has been sold to Manchester City (£8.5m there), so Bournemouth's attacking case now runs through Evanilson (£6.0m), who has started both games. Junior Kroupi (£7.4m) inherited the penalty duty Semenyo vacated and would be the differential — but he is out with a foot injury and no return date, so the duty is theoretical until he is back on a teamsheet.
The caveats: the Europa League midweeks eat into predictability, and a new attacking hierarchy needs 3-4 gameweeks to settle. Treat any Bournemouth attacker as a watch-list pick until the shot data confirms who inherited Semenyo's volume.
Defensive picks: Kerkez, Truffert and the goalkeeper
Miloš Kerkez has been sold to Liverpool (£5.5m there), so Adrien Truffert (£5.5m) is now the standout Bournemouth defensive pick — a clean-sheet play dependent on the new manager retaining Iraola's structure after his move to Liverpool. In goal, Đorđe Petrović (£4.5m) is the projected starter with Fredrik Forster at £4.0m the bench-fodder price point — neither is a credible premium FPL pick; Bournemouth GK is bench-only territory.
Outside the defence, Marcus Tavernier (£6.0m) takes some corners and is a viable budget-mid pick. The rest of the squad is mid-table value plays — pickable only if the new manager confirms minutes plans.
Bournemouth's 26/27 ownership angle
Without a manager four days from the fixtures release, Bournemouth become a "post-appointment re-rate" club for FPL. The right move now is: do not commit Bournemouth exposure in your initial GW1 squad. Watch for the manager announcement (expected late June) and the new manager's pre-season tour pattern. If the system is broadly continued, Truffert + Kroupi is the credible double-up. If not, fade Bournemouth entirely for GW1-5 and re-evaluate at the first international break.
Europa League midweeks will eat into Bournemouth's GW2-5 captaincy edge — they begin Europa league-phase fixtures from late August.