Every club’s best player with a year left on their contract

Sarah Winterburn

Arsenal – Laurent Koscielny
Oh captain! My captain! “I’m under contract until June 2020. Afterwards? I’m thinking of moving on, but I do not know where,” said Laurent Koscielny, who heads a clutch of players entering the last year of their Arsenal deals along with Nacho Monreal and Carl Jenkinson. He will be missed.
Last year: Aaron Ramsey. And he left, prompting Arsenal to re-think their entire strategy on contracts.

 

Aston Villa – Conor Hourihane
The Irish international featured in the Championship play-off final as part of a three-man midfield in which he is definitely the Craig Logan to the Goss brothers of Jack Grealish and John McGinn. He has been quite the £3m bargain since joining from Barnsley in January 2017, but is he a Premier League footballer? The lack of new contract suggests that Villa have their doubts.

 

Bournemouth – Ryan Fraser
“I don’t know myself so there’s no point thinking about it, wherever I’ll be, I’ll be. I don’t know what is happening. I’m not just saying that,” says the Scottish international winger who has been strongly linked with a £30m move to Arsenal. Only Eden Hazard claimed more Premier League assists last season – and he’s just moved for £88m.
Last year: Junior Stanislas, who signed a new contract keeping him with the Cherries until 2021.

 

Brighton – Glenn Murray
‘Glenn Murray is the standout name, but turns 35 in September and it wouldn’t even be that surprising if he left this summer. A new deal? Probably not,’ we wrote last summer. Oh how we underestimated the commitment of Chris Hughton to his old-stagers. His one-year contract extension gives him the chance to score the four goals before September 23 to draw level with Zlatan Ibrahimovic as the highest-scoring 35-year-old in Premier League history. Quite the honour.
Last year: Have you not been paying attention?

 

Burnley – Steven Defour
“He was injured at the time and we leave players alone when they’re injured, so we didn’t go out to the press and say he’s here for another two years,” said Burnley boss Dyche in September. “But he is, and there’s no question in-house what we’re talking about.” The problem is that Defour and injury go hand in hand; he only played six Premier League games last season – none of which Burnley won. He will surely not get another contract now. And Dyche will never sign another foreigner again.
Last year: See above.

 

Chelsea – Callum Hudson-Odoi
Eden Hazard has already gone, leaving a really quite impressive list of players with just a year remaining on their deals – including 30-plus stalwarts Willian, Pedro and Olivier Giroud. But the real priority for Chelsea is tying down Hudson-Odoi, who is reportedly close to agreeing a five-year deal worth £100,000 a week. It’s a shame because we would love to see him at Bayern Munich.
Last year: Thibaut Courtois, who was sold to Real Madrid for around £35m. 

 

Crystal Palace – Luka Milivojevic
Palace may have a decision to make over their captain as he approaches the final year of his contract. Do they sell him – AC Milan are said to be keen – or risk losing him for nothing next summer? He played every single minute for Palace in the Premier League last season and claimed 12 goals. It’s little wonder that he is reportedly stalling over a new deal.
Last year: Jason Puncheon, whose contract has now expired after an underwhelming loan spell at Huddersfield.

 

Everton – Kevin Mirallas
A one-year loan to Fiorentina has gone so badly that the Italian club will not pay the £6m fee they agreed to make the move permanent, so Mirallas is left looking for another loan as he enters the final year of his contract with Everton. Oumar Niasse is in the same boat, with Marco Silva more than willing to throw the pair overboard as he tries to redefine this Everton squad.
Last year: Leighton Baines, reportedly on the verge of signing a new Everton extension.

 

Leicester City – Nampalys Mendy
After not starting a single game under Brendan Rodgers, the writing appears to be on the wall for Mendy, though the Northern Irishman claims that he a big fan of the Frenchman. “I really like him,” said Rodgers. “I think he has been unfortunate. It is all down to styles. I tend to play with one controlling defensive type player.” And that one controlling defensive type player at Leicester is Wilfred Ndidi. Will Mendy leave this summer for more first-team football? Galatasaray have already been linked.
Last year: Christian Fuchs, who has signed a new one-year extension

 

Liverpool – Joel Matip
It is expected that both Joel Matip and James Milner will be rewarded with new deals after helping Liverpool become champions of Europe. Matip was a revelation in the second half of the season after injury ruled out Joe Gomez and incompetence ruled out Dejan Lovren. Joining that pair in the one-year-left club are Divock Origi, Adam Lallana and Nathaniel Clyne. Do not expect the latter pair to be given the same respect as Matip and Milner.
Last year: James Milner, but it seems to have been misinformation that his contract was due to expire in 2019.

 

Manchester City – Fernandinho
But only just as this is quite the list – Fernandinho is joined by the imperious David Silva, Claudio Bravo, Fabian Delph, Ilkay Gundogan, Eliaquim Mangala and Oleksandr Zinchenko in being out of contract next summer. Some of those will be sorely missed. Fernandinho will be 35 when his current deal expires but you would not bet against Pep Guardiola extending his career for another season as a centre-half. “He is fast, he is strong in the air, good going backwards and when he sees the football in front of him, his vision for the pass inside, switch of play is excellent,” said the manager last season.
Last year: Vincent Kompany, who left City to join Anderlecht as player-manager.

 

Manchester United – David De Gea
In November Manchester United activated a one-year extension on David De Gea’s contract, which at least protected their asset for another season. But there are no more contract extensions to be triggered and United will have to sell this summer or risk losing him for nothing. The latest reports suggest they may well pay him £20m to p*** off. That’s the kind of deal you can do when you hear that Atletico stopper Jan Oblak wants to join your club. Do they have a similarly impressive replacement lined up for Marcus Rashford?
Last year: You know.

 

Newcastle United – Ki Sung-Yong
There isn’t an awful lot of business sense at Newcastle, but they have somehow managed to avoid any key players entering the final year of their contracts with Ki being joined by Joselu, Federico Fernandez, Javier Manquillo and three back-up keepers on a list of players who could leave for free in 2020. Ki is just about the pick of them, but the free transfer from Swansea could go back there in 2020 and hardly anybody would notice.
Last year: Mo Diame, who is out of contract but could yet sign a new deal if Rafa Benitez stays.

 

Norwich City – Mario Vrancic
Ten goals in the Championship last season made the Bosnian midfielder a club hero last season, and club heroes are usually rewarded with new contracts. He is likely to follow Tim Krul in signing a new deal, with Stuart Webber saying: “What we try to do here, myself, Daniel, Delia, Michael and the board, is create an environment where people talk more. Sometimes everything is through an agent and all the rest of it, but it’s more like, I can speak to Tim Krul or Mario or whoever and say ‘let’s talk, where are we all at, how are we going to develop the club further?’.” It sounds like a no-brainer to us.

 

Sheffield United – George Baldock
There has been talk of a £3m move to Celtic for the Sheffield United full-back. If the Blades want to hush that talk, they might want to give Baldock a new contract as he is entering the final year of his deal along with his fellow right-back Kieron Freeman. “I really love being part of a city that loves its football so much,” said Baldock recently, but that could certain be said of Glasgow too. Can United resist a profit of over £2m on a player they bought from MK Dons two summers ago?

 

Southampton – Shane Long
“I have only got a year left on my contract and I don’t think I’ve earned the right to go knocking on the door and asking for more years,” said the 32-year-old Irishman in April, but four goals in the last seven games of the season will surely have helped. Ralph Hasenhuttl was honest in saying: “It’s important he stays fit. He’s not the youngest guy and he knows he has to do more to get his body in the right shape. We work very hard with him showed him the positions he has to be in to get more dangerous in front of the goal and now he showed the first step in his development. You never stop learning. I played until 37 years old and my last three or four years I learnt the most.” It sounds like he might get another year.
Last year: Alex McCarthy, who signed a new four-year deal under Mark Hughes and then lost his place under Hasenhuttl.

 

Tottenham – Christian Eriksen
This could be a summer of change at Tottenham with Eriksen, Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld and Vincent Janssen entering the final year of their new deals. Eriksen has made it clear that he fancies a change, saying: “I feel that I am at a stage of my career where I would like to try something new.” Real Madrid have been repeatedly linked but the real money could come from Manchester United.
Last year: Jan Vertonghen, whose contract was extended for another year.

 

Watford – Daryl Janmaat
You might be surprised to learn that Daryl Janmaat began this season in the Dutch squad for their Nations League campaign. He did not end this season in the Dutch squad for the Nations League finals. The right-back might well head back to the Eredivisie this summer if Feyenoord can raise the funds as he is more than a little miffed that he lost his place to Kiko Femenia at the end of the season. He heads a list of more mature players heading into their last year at Watford, featuring Ben Foster, Adrian Mariappa and Jose Holebas.
Last year: Adrian Mariappa, who signed a new one-year extension

 

West Ham – Manuel Lanzini
There is a growing school of thought among West Ham fans that they just need to cash in on Manuel Lanzini while he is fit; they would certainly make a hefty profit on their £10m outlay for the Argentine midfielder, especially as he is apparently stalling on a five-year deal. West Ham are also set to make a profit on Arthur Masuaku, also out of contract in 2020 along with Javier Hernandez, Robert Snodgrass and Pablo Zabaleta, who will surely retire.
Last year: Declan Rice, who signed a new long-term contract.

 

Wolves – Joao Moutinho
“He looks after himself extremely well and I think he’s got many more years left in him where he can hopefully perform at that level, hopefully performing with us, where he can pass on his expertise and wisdom into the group,” said Wolves managing director Laurie Dalrymple after the Portuguese schemer won the club’s player of the year gong. Basically, he was brilliant. He will be 33 in September but Wolves should hold on for dear life.
Last year: Carl Ikeme, who retired after a fight against cancer.

Sarah Winterburn

 

F365 Features David De Gea

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