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It’s one of the biggest questions of the early season. How on earth do Bournemouth do it?
Their best-ever start to a Premier League season, three wins on the bounce, and an early place in the Champions League spots, level on points with Arsenal and Tottenham.
All after a summer in which they lost three of their first-choice back line in Milos Kerkez, Illia Zabarnyi and Dean Huijsen to Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid and their on-loan goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga went back to Chelsea, before heading across London to Arsenal.
For a side that won just three of its last 13 league games to miss out on Europe, to have their defence filleted in such a manner would cause many clubs far grander than this humble one the south coast with a stadium capacity of less than 11,500 to tremble.
But not this one. Not Bournemouth. And certainly not under Andoni Iraola.
Bournemouth have sold five of their best players including Dean Huijsen but have somehow got better… but how?
The Cherries have enjoyed their best-ever start to a Premier League campaign
HOW HAVE THEY MANAGED IT?
Because, as always, Bournemouth knew what was coming and, as always, they had a plan.
The Cherries had known for a while that Kerkez and Huijsen, their two young superstar defenders, would leave in the summer. They knew that Richard Hughes, the club’s former sporting director now at Liverpool, was a huge admirer of full back Kerkez and a move was likely.
So Adrien Truffert, who has been outstanding in the Hungarian’s place so far this season, was through the door for £15m from Rennes before Kerkez left for £40m.
Huijsen’s £50m move to Real Madrid raised eyebrows, given he only broke into the side in November due to Marcos Senesi’s injury. But Daily Mail Sport understands that Bournemouth had to fight to keep him even back in January.
After the club convinced the Spanish youth international to stay for the rest of the season, they knew he’d be gone in the summer. So in the meantime, they got to work on Bafaode Diakite, a £34m addition from Lille.
Bournemouth would rather have kept Zabarnyi, not wanting to lose both their centre backs in the same window, but sensed that top clubs would come in for him. When PSG stumped up £57m, their decision was made. Don’t worry, teenager Veljko Milosavljevic signed from Red Star Belgrade to bolster the numbers and looked superb on debut against Brighton.
They knew Kepa would return to Chelsea so got Blues keeper Djordje Petrovic to come the other way for £25m instead. Dango Ouattara joined Brentford for £42.5m, so they signed exciting winger Amine Adli for £25m from Bayer Leverkusen.
The Cherries expected offers for Antoine Semenyo, who has started the season on fire with three goals and two assists already, but held firm on their asking price of £75m. You suspect if he carries on in the same vein, he will be the next big-money departure next summer. Not bad for a lad they signed from £10m from Bristol City.
Adrien Truffert has been a brilliant replacement for Milos Kerkez for just £15m from Rennes
Keeping hold of Antoine Semenyo has been critical but you suspect he may go next summer
All of this mastery of the transfer market is led by Tiago Pinto, the president of football operations, who works alongside former defender and club captain Simon Francis, the technical director. Francis worked alongside Hughes before he joined Liverpool.
Bournemouth, like many of the best recruiting sides, focus on the data to uncover their gems but the key to it all is that their entire approach is not about building their team around its stars, but making sure the only buy ones who fit into their tried-and-tested style and structure.
It’s not just about selling key players and reinvesting the money, it’s about preparing how you do it and everyone sticking to the plan.
This is what sets Bournemouth apart from the dwindling bigger clubs like West Ham and Manchester United and their scattergun approach of throwing enough cash around and hoping you find some some ‘silver bullets’, as Graham Potter called them recently.
Bournemouth’s players may change, but the identity doesn’t. That relentless, high-pressing, front-foot style. Four games into the new season and it’s no surprise already that Bournemouth’s players have made the most sprints of any team in the division and produced the most direct attacks.
Only one side has made more recoveries, only one has made more tackles and only one allows their opponents to make fewer passes before they attempt to win it back.
It’s a style that saw Bournemouth do the double over Arsenal last season, take four points off Newcastle, beat Manchester City at home and thump United 3-0 at Old Trafford for the second season in a row.
Iraola-ball, as they call it in these parts.
Andoni Iraola has implemented a relentless and creative identity which is hard to play against
WHAT MAKES IRAOLA SO SPECIAL?
While Iraola leaves most of the recruitment work to Pinto and Francis – though he does like to speak to the people around potential targets, friends and family, to get a sense of their character – it is his coaching prowess on the pitch that continues to get the best out of them.
Iraola learned much of his craft under legendary manager Marcelo Bielsa during his time playing at Athletic Club in Bilbao.
Those who have worked closely with him say he’s not the most vocal in the dressing room, not one for making big speeches to his side. He prefers to let his coaching do the talking.
At the start of his managerial career, at AEK Larnaca in Cyprus and Spanish side Mirandes, Iraola would be the one to cut and edit all the videos for his players to analyse, he’d be the one putting up the goalposts. He did the same when he started at Bournemouth, too, though now has a team of analysts and assistants to help with that hard graft. He still likes to put the cones out though.
Iraola loves his cycling, asking staff to put the Tour de France on the televisions during his first pre-season at the club, and will often take himself for a ride around Poole Bay for hours after a taxing defeat to help clear away the cobwebs.
He’s a superstitious sort, too. Ever since his playing days, he’s worn tape over his fingers on a match day and clicks a pen during interviews. He loves to play a quiz called ‘Football Bingo’ on his phone.
He finds American sports fascinating, having played a season in the MLS with New York City at the end of his career, with the likes of Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo and David Villa for team-mates. He’s studied both the NFL and NBA to see what he can take from those sports and apply to his own.
Iraola is not believed to be the most vocal manager in the Bournemouth dressing room, but he gets his message across
He learned much of his craft under legendary manager Marcelo Bielsa during his time playing at Athletic Club in Bilbao
Watching American football, it turns out, can help you at set-pieces. He observed how NFL sides learn hundreds of plays that they can perform at an instant.
I wrote an article a few weeks ago lauding the new rugby-style craze of booting the ball long into touch towards the corner flag from kick-off, a tactic embraced by PSG and Newcastle. I quickly received a message from a friend with close connections to Bournemouth that read: ‘I can only imagine there is coverage of Iraola doing this for the last two seasons.’
There wasn’t, much to my shame, but here was yet another example of Bournemouth and Iraola finding ways to find an edge.
They do it at other set-pieces, too. Iraola knows his side are not the tallest or most physical so there’s no point lumping corners into the box. So they come up with other methods.
Just look Ryan Christie’s goal in the home victory against Arsenal. Justin Kluivert makes a run towards the near post, receives a low driven corner, flicks it back towards the edge of the box and Christie rifles it into the roof of the net.
SO, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
It is no wonder Tottenham considered Iraola before they hired Thomas Frank while it’s also no surprise so see his name constantly linked with Manchester United as their woes continue under Ruben Amorim.
Iraola is in the final season of his contract at the Vitality Stadium, having signed an extension last summer, with the 43-year-old prefers to work on rolling one-year deals.
Before hiring Thomas Frank, Tottenham Hotspur considered an approach for Iraola
Club bosses at the Cherries are believed to be confident that the Spaniard will extend his stay
Daily Mail Sport understands there was a gentleman’s agreement between Iraola, Pinto and the club hierarchy not to hold talks over his future until the transfer window closed and those discussions over his future are expected to being in the coming weeks.
Club bosses are said to be confident that Iraola is open to extending his stay. Iraola has long insisted he is relaxed about the situation. And, hey, things are looking good.
Bournemouth are six months into their move into their bells-and-whistles training ground while there are plans to increase the capacity of the Vitality Stadium to more than 20,000. Billionaire owner Bill Foley has made no secret of his desire to get Bournemouth into Europe, and without last season’s late collapse they would be there already.
While the messaging from those close to the club is that they will not be getting carried away with their excellent start this time around, with work to be done to further embed their new signings, their supporters will keeping their passports in the top drawer.
But say the worst was to happen. Say United gave up on Amorim (at last) and made their move. Say Iraola decided to go.
In the same way they cover all bases when it comes to their players, they do so with their managers. Iraola was hired in the first place because he played the very style the club wanted. Daily Mail Sport understands they already have a succession plan in mind for when Iraola leaves, whether that’s to appoint another coach with the same philosophy or to promote from within.
Whenever he does leave, the same questions will be asked of the club again, just about the coach this time.
Iraola was hired in the first place because he played the very style the club wanted
Daily Mail Sport understands Bournemouth already have a succession plan in place for when their current manager leaves
Bournemouth will keep doing what they always do. They will stick to their plans, and to their vision. Cynics might wonder how long you can keep selling your best assets if you have an owner who longs for European football.
But Bournemouth know who they are. They know when you are a club of their size, with their revenue, with their stadium capacity, you need to keep buying low, selling high. It’s that, combined with the work of a fine coach, that enables you to keep building.
That’s what Leicester did when they were busy winning shock Premier League titles and reaching Champions League quarter-finals. Sell high, move on. N’Golo Kante, Riyad Mahrez, Danny Drinkwater, Ben Chilwell, Harry Maguire.
When they stopped, when they forgot who they were, they began their decline and have spent two of the past three seasons in the Championship.
Bournemouth are showing no signs of making the same mistake.
