Why Bournemouth Are This Season’s (Positive) Surprise Team in the Premier League

AFC Bournemouth caught our notice with their impressive victory at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before the international break. They followed this up with a 2-1 defeat of Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend and now sit fourth in the Premier League after three straight wins. A 4-2 loss to champions Liverpool on opening day being the lone blemish of the still-young Premiership campaign. There was also an unfortunate home loss to Brentford in the EFL Cup.

Still, this leaves Bournemouth as the most positive surprise team so far. It might still be early days, but there are reasons to believe this club is on to great things. They stand to follow in the footsteps of Nottingham Forest last season and Brighton the previous year. This means European spots should be attainable for Andoni Iraola’s men in 2026. Perhaps even a top 5 spot is in the offing.

It starts, as it has to, with the core of players. Winger Antoine Semenyo is undoubtedly the team’s creative force. He has been involved with 80% of Cherries’ goals this season, scoring three himself. The Ghanaian international is the lynchpin for almost every Bournemouth attack. This makes him indispensable. Unfortunately it also makes him irreplaceable. This was painfully evident in the 2-0 home loss to Brentford in the EFL Cup when Semenyo started on the bench. He came on at halftime when Bournemouth were already down a goal and was unable to turn the tide.

Semenyo understandably was the subject of ample transfer news this summer. Recent news speculates that Iraola will become the next Manchester United manager, and that this would lead to Semenyo making the move to Old Trafford as well. For now this is still a distant prospect. One hopes Semenyo’s days at Dean Court1 aren’t numbered quite yet, or at least that he can stay for the full season.

Midfielder Alex Scott is another one to get excited about. The young (22yo) Englishman holds down the center of the park for Cherries. He’s also known to find the scoresheet, as he did last weekend v Brighton with an absolute banger from outside the box (assist by Semenyo). The former Under-21 international may even see his name called by Thomas Tuchel before too long, though England are quite deep at his position. Worth noting that Scott, like Semenyo, was at Bristol City before moving to Dean Court.

Finally on the topic of exciting young players comes Bournemouth’s latest addition, centreback Veljko Milosavljevic (Editor’s note: triple-checked the spelling. don’t try to pronounce it). The Serbian teenager (born in 2007) has been our radar for potential wonderkids. He was a deadline day signing from Red Star Belgrade and somewhat shockingly slotted right in to the starting lineup last weekend. Even more shocking was his performance, which was superb by all accounts.

The most remarkable thing about Bournemouth is that this all follows a summer when they sold £200 million-worth of players. Gone are Dean Huijlsen (to Real Madrid for $62m), Dango Quattara (Brentford, $51m), Illia Zabarnyi (PSG, $66m), and Milos Kerkez (Liverpool, $32m). In are Djordje Petrovic (from Chelsea for $30m), Bafode Diakite (Lille, $37m), Armine Adli (Leverkusen, $22m), Ben Doak (Liverpool, $26m), Adrien Truffert ($14m, Rennes), Elie Junior Kroupi ($13m, Lorient), and the aforementioned Milosavljevic ($16m). Alex Jimenez joined on loan from AC Milan.

Among the new signings only Petrovic (starting goalkeeper) and Truffert (left back) have figured in the starting lineup consistently. Diakite plays the same position as Milosavljevic and it’s not sure the Frenchman will be able to reclaim the starting spot from the Serb teenager anytime soon after his Brighton performance. Adli, Kroupi, and Doak started in the unfortunate EFL Cup loss to Brenton, which indicates they aren’t (or weren’t) quite ready yet.

But make no mistake: These are some exciting additions. Kroupi is a 19-year old striker who scored 23 goals in 32 Ligue Un games last year (not a typo). At $13m, the French teenager came cheap. Adli hardly broke the bank either at $22m. The 23-year old winger is just returning from injury. The Moroccan tallied 10 goals and nine assists at Leverkusen in 2023/24. Doak is still only 19, even though it feels like he’s been a professional for a decade already. The Scottish international was never quite able to break through at Liverpool but fared far better at Middlesbrough last season (7.1 average rating per FotMob).

If anybody doubts Bournemouth’s transfer prowess they can look to Semenyo and Scott, who came for a combined $35m. Truffert and Milosavljevic cost a combined $30m and are already starting. Adli and Kroupi offer a lucrative ‘call option’ (finance term) for a combined $35m.

So Bournemouth appear to face a bright future. This season’s success will depend on whether they can hold on to Semenyo — and keep him healthy. But even if Semenyo were to leave, the income from his transfer would allow Bournemouth to reload with a new generation of talent. Presumably even Iraola is replaceable, keeping in mind that people predicted bad things after Eddie Howe left. Yes, Bournemouth were facing an uncertain future at the time as a newly-demoted Championship club. But their success since can serve as a blueprint for clubs in similar positions and perhaps provide some hope to fans that global football doesn’t always have to be an arms race.

Well, we can pretend that.