Primarily a right-back, Juanlu Sanchez (£4.5m) has joined Bournemouth for an initial £9.5 million fee.
BRIEF HISTORY
Born in Seville, he came through his local team’s youth system, then spent a year on loan at second-tier Mirandes to boost his game time.
Upon his return, Juanlu’s three seasons have brought fairly regular top-flight starts, alongside six Champions League appearances.
Yet Sevilla’s latest couple of campaigns have been about fighting relegation. Down in 17th, they were safe by one point in 2024/25, before finding themselves in the bottom three with five matches to go last time. A well-timed sequence of victories kept them up.
About to turn 23, Juanlu is an Olympic gold medal winner. He was part of Spain’s successful 2024 squad, even scoring the semi-final winner versus Morocco.
| STARTS (SUB) | GOALS | ASSISTS | CBIT PER 90 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 | Sevilla | La Liga | 23 (9) | 0 | 3 | 4.81 |
| 2024/25 | Sevilla | La Liga | 18 (14) | 4 | 4 | 4.32 |
| 2023/24 | Sevilla | La Liga | 11 (15) | 0 | 2 | 7.52 |
Looking at the table above, what immediately stands out is 2024/25’s four goals and four assists. That’s because his desire to dribble and cross has sometimes seen him play as a winger, rather than a defender.
ANY FPL POTENTIAL?
The temporary exit of Alex Jimenez means Juanlu’s only right-back competition is veteran Adam Smith (£4.5m). The Cherries’ other expected starters cost more, either £5.0m or £5.5m.
Under Andoni Iraola, Bournemouth’s defence was especially strong at home, placing second for expected goals conceded (16.55) and being the best at limiting opposition big chances (20, below).
No team in Europe’s top five leagues has a longer active unbeaten run (18 matches), but a few challenges await.
They’ll be juggling continental football for the first time in their history, on the back of losing both Iraola and Marcos Senesi (£6.0m).
Furthermore, new head coach Marco Rose inherits a tough early eight-game schedule, ranked worst on our free Fixture Ticker. They won’t meet a promoted team until Gameweek 10.
- READ MORE: Who has the worst early 2026/27 fixtures?
DefCon returns look unlikely, too. He averaged under 5.0 contributions per 90 minutes last season. Jimenez, the man he’s replacing, banked just four DefCon points in the whole of 2025/26.
Jimenez racked up nowhere near enough attacking returns to compensate, averaging a paltry 2.8 points per start:
Juanlu could be the cheapest way into a solid Bournemouth backline – but there are more cons than pros going into Gameweek 1.
