The first videos and photos have dropped on social media. Bleep tests are being sweatily run. Pre-season has begun at most clubs across the Premier League.
But the group of players taking part in testing on day one of pre-season at each of the division’s 20 teams are not always the same ones that pull on a shirt and take the pitch for the opening fixture of the campaign a few weeks later. In fact, for all clubs across the Premier League, there are clear issues in their current squad to resolve with a month to go until the big kick-off.
Whether it’s contracts, wantaway stars, ongoing transfer sagas or players that teams just want to get shifted, there are moves which could be made to ease the stress levels for each manager or head coach.
The Athletic’s team of club experts have weighed in on the biggest issues to resolve as pre-season 2025 gets rolling.
Arsenal
Arsenal have a few player-related issues as pre-season begins.
There are first-team squad members who have returned from last season’s loans, such as Fabio Vieira, Reiss Nelson and Albert Sambi Lokonga, who could all do with having clarity over their futures. Lokonga’s contract was about to expire, but in May the club took up their option of another year, hoping to sort a permanent transfer for their £17million ($23m at the current rate) summer 2021 signing during this window. Vieira and Nelson are on deals that run until 2027.
Oleksandr Zinchenko’s name stands out most among those who did not spend 2024-25 away on loan. The 28-year-old Ukraine international is into the final year of his contract and, as with Vieira, Nelson and Lokonga, the club are willing to listen to offers.
Arsenal improved their selling record with the departures of Emile Smith Rowe, Eddie Nketiah and Aaron Ramsdale last season (receiving £70million up front for the trio), but may struggle to bring in similar sums for these players. They have already sold Nuno Tavares to Lazio for around £7million, after the Italian side took up their option to buy the left-back who spent last season with them on loan.
Art de Roché
Arsenal are willing to listen to offers for Zinchenko (Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images)
Aston Villa
Villa have a stack of players whose futures need resolving.
On one hand, there are the ones they are actively looking to sell, such as Alex Moreno, Leander Dendoncker and Kosta Nedeljkovic. On the other, you have those who are part of manager Unai Emery’s squad but may leave due to the club having to trim their wage bill to comply with UEFA squad-cost rules.
The latter include Emiliano Martinez. He thought at the end of last season that he’d been moving on this summer, but no bids have been received for him yet.
Ollie Watkins is happy to stay, but speculation swirls around him, while Boubacar Kamara, Jacob Ramsey and Morgan Rogers have their admirers. Lucas Digne, who turns 32 next week, is a high earner and is yet to start new-contract talks with less than a year left on his current deal.
Jacob Tanswell
Bournemouth
Illia Zabarnyi returned to the club for pre-season training last week, despite strong transfer interest from Paris Saint-Germain. Negotiations have been ongoing for the past month with no agreement yet reached.
Bournemouth have already sold Dean Huijsen, Zabarnyi’s centre-back partner of last season, to Real Madrid and first-choice left-back Milos Kerkez to Liverpool so, even if the 22-year-old Ukraine international ends up staying, they are looking short in defence. A resolution for all parties needs to be found, one way or the other, soon.
Jacob Tanswell
Brentford
It has been over a month since Manchester United submitted their first bid for Bryan Mbeumo, but he is still a Brentford player. The Cameroon international has also attracted interest from Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur, but has made it clear he wants to move to Old Trafford.
United’s second offer, which was worth £55million, plus a potential £7.5m more in add-ons, was rejected too.
Last week, Brentford’s director of football Phil Giles said he “would not be massively surprised if Mbeumo” stayed with them for the coming season.
It is best for all parties, though, that this mooted deal is wrapped up quickly.
The 25-year-old deserves to take the next step in his career after 70 goals for the club over the past six seasons, while Brentford might double their previous record sale — Ivan Toney’s £33.6million move to Al Ahli of Saudi Arabia last August. It is a huge amount of money which they should not turn down, as it will help them reinvest as they start a new era under Thomas Frank’s successor Keith Andrews.
Jay Harris
Brighton & Hove Albion
Squad-trimming is ongoing at Brighton, via a combination of permanent exits and loan moves.
They have to name a Premier League squad of no more than 25 players born before January 1, 2004 for the coming season and, as things stand, have 29 who fall into that category (those born after that date do not require registration).
There are candidates to leave in every area of the team: goalkeepers Kjell Scherpen and Carl Rushworth; defenders Igor Julio, Adam Webster and Eiran Cashin; midfielder Matt O’Riley; and forwards Evan Ferguson, Julio Enciso and Facundo Buonanotte.
Andy Naylor
Burnley
Promoted Burnley currently have a bloated squad, and a number of the players who spent last season out on loan or on the first-team fringes at Turf Moor will be earmarked for potential moves. That group includes the likes of Darko Churlinov, Hannes Delcroix, Shurandy Sambo, Mike Tresor and Michael Obafemi.
The aim is to keep the core of the 2024-25 Championship promotion side together, but Newcastle United still want goalkeeper James Trafford. Eddie Howe and company have been pursuing the 22-year-old for some time, with talks taking place between the two sides.
He is technically no longer a Burnley player after his contract expired at the end of June, but there is interest in agreeing a new deal with Josh Brownhill. Last season’s captain, the 29-year-old midfielder is weighing up his options, with several other clubs having him on their radar.
Andy Jones
Chelsea
There was a low per-club wordcount limit for this article, so we cannot mention all the Chelsea players whose futures need resolving in this transfer window — their section alone would take you guys an hour to read.
As The Athletic reported last week, a large group of returning loanees/players who are for sale have begun training at the club’s Cobham base while the senior squad are still in the United States at the Club World Cup.
One of the standout players involved in those sessions who really needs to formalise a permanent departure is Ben Chilwell. The England international left-back spent the second half of last season on loan at Crystal Palace, having been told by new head coach Enzo Maresca in pre-season that he was not part of his plans. The 28-year-old still has two years left on his contract.
The same goes for Raheem Sterling, who at the time of writing had yet to report back to his parent club. The 30-year-old former England winger struggled to make an impact on loan at Arsenal last season but is still looking to play at the highest level.
One of the main issues affecting a transfer for both of them is that they are on very high salaries.
Simon Johnson
Chelsea need to resolve Chilwell’s future (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Crystal Palace
Striker Odsonne Edouard, winger Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and midfielder Naouirou Ahamada are not part of Palace’s plans and will be available if deals can be agreed.
But more pressing is the future of captain Marc Guehi, with the centre-back having only a year left on his contract and yet to show any sign of willingness to extend it, and his England team-mate Eberechi Eze. The midfielder has two years to go on his deal but will be in demand during this window. Palace could be tempted by offers for the 27-year-old, though the money on the table would have to be significant after his outstanding end to last season and ongoing importance to the team.
Their futures will have a major impact on Palace’s summer.
Matt Woosnam
Everton
Most of the big issues at Everton have already been resolved. We now have answers, for example, on the 15-strong contingent, including loan players, whose contracts expired at the end of June. What remains of the squad is threadbare, with manager David Moyes’ focus on significantly improving his options for the coming season.
Decisions will need to be made, though, on where youngsters Youssef Chermiti and Harrison Armstrong play their football next season. If they are not going to be regulars for Everton, which looks unlikely, they could do with loan moves to continue their development.
Patrick Boyland
Fulham
Two Fulham players at opposing ends of their careers face uncertain futures.
After 10 seasons, eight of them as captain, Tom Cairney’s time at Fulham could be up. His contract expired last month and talks to re-sign the 34-year-old have stalled, amid interest from big-spending Championship newcomers Wrexham. Despite his injury problems and advancing years, Cairney has carved out an important role as an impact substitute under Marco Silva in recent seasons. He would need replacing if a deal cannot be done.
Further up the pitch, the situation is no clearer. Last month, Fulham rejected an offer from Premier League newcomers Leeds United for Rodrigo Muniz, but speculation has continued. With Raul Jimenez the only other recognised centre-forward in Silva’s first-team squad, the 24-year-old Brazilian would also leave a void if he departed.
Justin Guthrie
Leeds United
The headline name with his future up in the air is Jack Harrison.
The 28-year-old winger has been away for two seasons on loan to Everton, and has another three left on his contract. Harrison’s form during his time at Goodison Park has not inspired confidence and you sense a permanent exit suits all parties best, but there have been virtually no concrete links in terms of a move as pre-season starts.
Darko Gyabi, Sam Greenwood and Joe Gelhardt will not feature in the coming season if they stay, while teenagers Charlie Crew and Sam Chambers probably need to go on loan to aid their development.
The other cases in the squad will be dictated by incomings. As it stands, Illan Meslier, Patrick Bamford, Mateo Joseph and Isaac Schmidt are already backups. Should Leeds add further recruits, as is expected, at those players’ positions, they may be tempted to look elsewhere for more minutes.
Beren Cross
Harrison, right, has returned to Leeds after successive seasons on loan at Everton (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Liverpool
There’s uncertainty surrounding the futures of a number of the champions’ players, including England Under-21s midfielders Harvey Elliott and Tyler Morton.
Both found their game time limited under Arne Slot last season but enhanced their reputations while helping England retain their European Under-21 Championship title last month. Liverpool’s third member of that England squad, defender Jarell Quansah, has already completed a £35million move to Bayer Leverkusen.
Elliott, who has attracted interest from another German club, RB Leipzig, among others, was named player of that tournament. Liverpool aren’t actively looking to sell, and value the 22-year-old at around £50million. He made 28 appearances for the club in 2024-25, but just two of those were Premier League starts, and he spoke while away on international duty about needing to weigh up his options.
Morton, also 22, is highly likely to secure a permanent move as he targets regular first-team football. He only featured on five occasions last season, none of them in the league, before shoulder surgery in January and didn’t play again until the Under-21 Euros. Portugal’s Braga, Ajax of the Netherlands and Belgium’s Club Brugge are among the clubs monitoring his situation. Leverkusen tried to sign him on loan last summer, but Liverpool were only prepared to sanction a permanent transfer for around £20million.
James Pearce
Manchester City
Pep Guardiola was adamant at the end of last season that he wanted a much smaller squad going forward. But so far this summer, City have enlarged his pool of players, as a stream of potential departures have publicly stated their desire to stay.
Kyle Walker has gone to Burnley on a permanent deal after spending the second half of 2024-25 on loan to Milan, but new clubs still need to be found for Jack Grealish, Kalvin Phillips and James McAtee, who were all left out of the Club World Cup party.
Whether buyers capable of coughing up both the fee and wages that would be required to sign the first two of those three step forward remains to be seen, but Ederson, John Stones and Ilkay Gundogan, other players whose futures were in doubt, have all said they don’t want to leave. Somehow, City need to find several players they can move on or else they will be running with a bloated squad next season.
Jordan Campbell
Manchester United
This is possibly the biggest issue at Old Trafford this summer: finding buyers for several players who are up for sale, so head coach Ruben Amorim can go forward with a squad focused on United and the club raises money to reinvest in new signings.
Primarily, there is the group currently exiled from Amorim’s sessions: Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho, Antony, Jadon Sancho, and Tyrell Malacia. The infamous five, you might say. They can still use the facilities at United’s Carrington complex for medical and fitness purposes — but so far, only Rashford has taken up that offer.
There is interest in all of them, to differing degrees, but clubs are expected to wait to make formal bids in the hope that the prices plunge as the September 1 deadline approaches.
Rashford wants to join Barcelona, who are looking at making that wish a reality, Chelsea remain in contact over Garnacho and Real Betis would like to sign Antony permanently after his positive loan spell with the Spaniards in the second half of last season. Sancho’s wages make a deal difficult following his year on loan at Chelsea, while an injury history that has limited Malacia to eight appearances since the end of the 2022-23 campaign reduces his value.
There are also players in the squad who could yet leave if good money comes in for them, such as Rasmus Hojlund.
Laurie Whitwell
Newcastle United
Ideally, Newcastle would tie Alexander Isak down to a contract extension and extinguish any lingering hopes that Europe’s elite clubs have of prising the 25-year-old striker away, but even if they can’t get that done, he still has three seasons left on his current deal and those at St James’ Park are adamant he is going nowhere.
Sean Longstaff’s situation is more pressing, given he is into the final 12 months of his contract and has attracted interest from promoted Leeds, but coach Eddie Howe is happy to hang onto the academy-graduate midfielder, even if he is no longer a first-choice player.
Martin Dubravka remains Nick Pope’s deputy for now, but if Burnley’s James Trafford, or another goalkeeper, is signed, then the Slovakia international’s future would appear to lie elsewhere. Fellow goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos needs to find another club, but a loan move is most likely, given the PSR ramifications of selling the Greece international (for whom Newcastle paid Nottingham Forest £20million last year) for a loss.
Chris Waugh
Nottingham Forest
Much of what Forest need to do is fairly obvious — but that does not make it straightforward.
Having tied down Ola Aina and Neco Williams to new contracts, Forest must look to secure the futures of Callum Hudson-Odoi, who is into the final year of his deal and Morgan Gibbs-White, who has two left on his. Tottenham are pushing to sign the latter, but Forest are considering reporting them to the Premier League over their move for the England midfielder.
They will look to move on Omar Richards, Lewis O’Brien, Josh Bowler and Emmanuel Dennis, who were loaned out last season, with Richards likely to head straight back to their Portuguese sister club Rio Ave, potentially on a permanent basis this time.
Forest must also decide what the future holds for Marko Stamenic and David Carmo, after they were signed last summer and immediately sent to Olympiacos, their Greek sister club, on season-long loans.
Paul Taylor
Hudson-Odoi’s contract is expiring next summer (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
Sunderland
Four of Sunderland’s promotion-winning mainstays see their contracts expire less than a year from now, though in the cases of both Luke O’Nien and Patrick Roberts, the club have the option of extending those deals to 2027.
Of greater immediate concern are left-back Dennis Cirkin and central midfielder — and team captain — Dan Neil. No such options exist with them, though the club have rather strengthened their hand in some respects this summer, with signings having already been made at their positions.
Not that they will be keen to rush either player out of the door. Neil, Sunderland-born, was a key component of last season’s team in the Championship and has been eyed by various impressive suitors; Cirkin’s first three years on Wearside had been peppered with injuries but he played most of the games last season and, on his day, it’s clear to see why there was once talk of him making the grade at previous club Tottenham.
Sporting director Kristjaan Speakman confirmed last month that talks would be held over new contracts, though there’s been little by way of updates since.
Even with new faces galore arriving since May’s play-off final win over Sheffield United, Sunderland would prefer to keep two 23-year-olds who have yet to dip their toes in Premier League waters. But if new contracts can’t be agreed soon, difficult decisions may need to be made.
Chris Weatherspoon
Tottenham Hotspur
New head coach Thomas Frank has inherited an awkward problem as rumours swirl around both captain Son Heung-min and vice-captain Cristian Romero.
Son underperformed last season, and it might be time to accept he is no longer at the peak of his powers. The 33-year-old’s status at Tottenham, though, means it would be difficult for Frank to drop him from the starting XI even if he is no longer the best, or maybe not even the second-best, left-winger in the squad. It would be emotional if Son cuts ties with Spurs this summer after a decade of quality service, but he would leave on a high, having helped win the Europa League in May to end the club’s 17-year trophy drought.
Romero is a slightly more complicated situation. When the Argentina international centre-back is fully focused, he is exceptional, but he made a few high-profile errors last season and his availability rate, whether due to injury or suspension, is not great. With interest from Atletico Madrid, it might be worth cashing in on the 27-year-old and signing a quality replacement.
Losing both players in the same window would leave Frank with a big leadership void as he succeeds Ange Postecoglou.
Jay Harris
West Ham United
There is still uncertainty over Lucas Paqueta’s future as he awaits a verdict from the Football Association’s investigation into his alleged breaches of betting rules. The 27-year-old Brazil international playmaker could receive a lifetime ban from football if found guilty, so this unresolved situation obviously affects West Ham’s ability to sell him, in order to reinvest in their squad.
The club remain open to offers for Nayef Aguerd, Maxwel Cornet, Guido Rodriguez, Andy Irving and Emerson. Aguerd has attracted interest from French side Marseille, Cornet does not feature in head coach Graham Potter’s plans and has not played for West Ham since April last year, Irving is on the radar of Scottish champions Celtic and Roma of Italy, one of his former clubs, are among Emerson’s suitors.
Roshane Thomas
Wolverhampton Wanderers
A host of Wolves’ players need their futures resolving, but top of the list is one who is technically no longer their employee.
Nelson Semedo’s contract expired at the end of last month, making him a free agent, but Wolves have made him a strong offer to stay. His decision on whether to re-sign will have a big influence on what the club need to do elsewhere in this transfer window, both at his position of right wing-back and in terms of the dressing-room dynamic, with the 31-year-old Portugal international emerging as a key figure after being made captain in the second half of last season.
Head coach Vitor Pereira, in his first summer at Wolves after being appointed in December, also has to decide whether Hugo Bueno is ready to replace the departed Rayan Ait-Nouri at left wing-back, while the club will be keen to finally find a buyer for oft-loaned striker Fabio Silva almost two years on from his most recent appearance for them.
Steve Madeley
(Top photos: Getty Images)
