Despair on the final day ended Bournemouth's five-season stint in the Premier League and, with a staggering £111m annual wage bill, the top six vultures are already circling over the likes of Callum Wilson, Nathan Ake and Josh King.
Which must make relegation all the more difficult to take for anyone associated with the club - how did it happen if their players are so sought after, and their manager Eddie Howe is so highly rated?
Sorry Cherries fans, that kind of post-mortem isn't what we're getting into here, this is more of an audit of a squad that will now have to class themselves as Sky Bet Championship footballers unless they can secure moves.
Owner Maxim Demin is determined to bounce back and claims to be set on keeping hold of Bournemouth's top talents. In reality, he just wants the best deal - they'll be long gone by the time the new season gets under way.
Let's begin with one of the three we've already mentioned: Callum Wilson.
Bournemouth have done well to keep hold of the England striker for this long, quite frankly. I can't remember a time when he wasn't linked to Manchester United, Chelsea or Tottenham - in January that noise grew extremely loud as Frank Lampard seemed determined to bring attacking reinforcements to Stamford Bridge.
Now that the Cherries have been relegated, and England have the delayed Euro 2020 next summer, it has to be his time.
Spurs are the strong favourites to sign the 28-year-old in a cut-price deal - The Sun claims it could be as little as £10m - to finally secure themselves a quality back-up to Harry Kane. With Wilson also able to operate from a wide position when required, and with Kane's preference to drop deep it would give Jose Mourinho's team an option they simply do not have.
I'll be shocked if this deal does not happen.
The majority of Wilson's 41 goals and 12 assists, in 125 Premier League appearances, have come while playing alongside Joshua King.
If Chelsea were determined to sign a striker in January, before realising they had the prolific Olivier Giroud sitting in the reserves, then Man United were desperate.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did his upmost to prize his countryman from the Vitality Stadium, only for Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe to say they wouldn't sell him mid-season as a £20m bid was rejected.
United ultimately signed Odion Ighalo on loan, but there is no reason to think they won't return for the Norwegian. They are totally different players - Ighalo a target man and goal poacher, King a number 10 and creator.
His stats are mightily impressive for someone who plays out wide or in a deeper role for a struggling team, amassing 48 goals and 14 assists in 161 league games.
The pull of Manchester United is a strong enough one for most players, but for one who started their career at Old Trafford it's surely even greater. King was loyal to Bournemouth in January, but he should not be expected to stay now.
His contract expires in June 2021 too and, with the Cherries having already lost another star player in Ryan Fraser for nothing this summer, they'll be keen to avoid a repeat in a year's time.
Like Callum Wilson, Nathan Ake seems to have been constantly linked with a move to one of the big six over the past three seasons. It's been widely reported that Wilson's eye-watering £110k per week wages will act as both an incentive for the Cherries to sell him, and a bargaining chip with the buying club when it comes to negotiating a lower fee.
For Ake, it's even more severe.
Bournemouth can only dream of receiving the £40m that Chelsea inserted in the deal as a buy-back option when the Dutchman was sold for around half that in 2017 because, according to The Times, he has no relegation clause in contract.
He is 1/6 with Sky Bet to join Manchester City before the transfer window closes.The only other player to be such significant odds-on in that market is Pierre Emile Hojbjerg (1/5 to join Spurs).
Ake to City seems to be near enough a done deal then.
So the spine of Bournemouth's team is being decimated with their first-choice striker, attacking midfielder and centre-back all looking as thought they're on their way out. Goalkeeper? Yeah he could be on his bike as well.
Aaron Ramsdale is one of the few players to emerge from this season with plenty of credit having nailed down the number one spot at the Vitality.
After graduating from the Sheffield United academy, Ramsdale made appearances in the FA Cup before he was sold to Bournemouth in 2017 for around £800k while Chris Wilder was in charge of the Blades in League One, and he could be set to return to Bramall Lane.
Should Sheffield United fail to agree a deal with Manchester United for Dean Henderson following his two excellent seasons on loan, then 22-year-old Ramsdale appears to be their man.
The only solace for the Cherries will be the paltry sum they paid for him, and the rumoured £15m they could now command.
Take a quick glance at just what Ramsdale has had to contend with this season and it's no surprise that Bournemouth are going to be playing in the Sky Bet Championship next season, none of their central midfielders are being linked high-profile moves, and only one defender is.
How easy has it been to get into the box and shoot against Eddie Howe's team?
So of the other players to be seemingly headed for the exit, unsurprisingly it's another attacker.
David Brooks missed almost the entire regular season because of an ankle injury and his return for Project Restart couldn't save Bournemouth from the drop. If the Wales midfielder plays for the club again I'll be staggered.
It's highly likely that he'd have moved on to bigger and better things if not for the ligament damage he sustained early in pre-season a year ago, and now clubs will be able to pick him off at a much cheaper price.
Several outlets believe Tottenham are considering a deal that will see them sign both Brooks and Callum Wilson.
Former Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino was a known fan of the Welshman, but whether Jose Mourinho shares those same levels of admiration will only emerge over the next 40 days or so.
Could he be the door-opener that's been missing since Christian Eriksen left for Inter Milan? Possibly.
Brooks certainly won't be short of suitors should Tottenham decide to look elsewhere though thanks to seven goals and five assists in just 30 appearances during his debut Premier League season, as well some standout performances for his country.
A year of injury won't have made clubs forget.
Sadly for Cherries fans I'm not convinced it'll stop at six high-profile departures.
While I did dig one in to their central midfielders, I expect plenty of club's to look past Bournemouth poor overall season and pick out the high class players that simply haven't functioned properly as part of as unit.
Lewis Cook is another England international who was on the cusp on the World Cup squad in 2018. At just 23 years old it seems unlikely to imagine him playing Championship football come September.
Likewise Jefferson Lerma, a club record £30m signing who would add skill and physicality to most midfields and has bags of international experience with Colombia under his belt.
To steal a phrase from a colleague, the more you look at Bournemouth's squad the more it looks like they could be getting the band back together.
Adam Smith, Simon Francis, Steve Cook and Charlie Daniels were all with the club in League One, while Artur Boruc, Andrew Surman and Dan Gosling had joined by the triumphant Championship campaign of 2014/15.
They may just have to be the Bournemouth backbone once again.
