Every Premier League club’s three longest-serving players

The point at which a player signed a professional contract and became a first-team squad member is used. So Mark Noble is counted from 2004 instead of 2000 (when he joined West Ham’s academy), for example. We have not included players whose contracts expire this summer.

 

ARSENAL

1) Emiliano Martinez (August 2010)
Patience is second only to ‘strong hands’ when it comes to goalkeeper virtues.

2) Hector Bellerin (July 2012)
Still only 25, apparently. Which is mental.

3) Mesut Ozil (September 2013)
Mesut ‘f***ing’ Ozil has now become ‘f***ing Mesut Ozil’. If only Arsenal could ditch him

 

ASTON VILLA

1) Jack Grealish (July 2012)
Have Aston Villa priced him out of a move? Will he remain forever (claret and) blue?

2) Jed Steer (July 2013)
He’s played more games for Huddersfield Town than Aston Villa.

3) Henri Lansbury (January 2017)
He has played 12 minutes of Premier League football in 2020.

 

BRIGHTON

1) Lewis Dunk (April 2010)
Captain, leader, probably Brighton’s best hope of getting a decent influx of cash.

2) Solly March (December 2011)
Shame he didn’t sign his first professional contract nine months earlier or three months later.

3) Dale Stephens (January 2014)
Over six years at Brighton and we still couldn’t pick him out of a line-up.

 

BURNLEY

1) Kevin Long (January 2010)
He was even allowed to play a bit this season; it takes that long to earn Sean Dyche’s trust.

2) Ben Mee (July 2011)
Ben Mee, shape me, anyway you want me. Long as he’s Burnley’s second longest-serving player, it’s all right.

3) Ashley Barnes (January 2014)
Sean Dyche’s first cash signing as Burnley manager was a £750,000 bargain.

 

CHELSEA

1) Lucas Piazon (January 2012)
Lucas Piazon has played once in the Premier League for Chelsea, as a second-half substitute in December 2012. He is now on loan spell No. 7 (at Rio Ave).

2)  Cesar Azpilicueta (August 2012)
He has played an awful lot of games for Chelsea and won six major trophies.

3) Victor Moses (August 2012)
Loan spell No. 5 is improbably at Inter Milan.

 

CRYSTAL PALACE

1) Joel Ward (May 2012)
Finally taking the baton from the now-departed Ryan Inniss. He must be very proud.

2) Wayne Hennessey (January 2014)
I did Nazi that coming.

3) Martin Kelly (July 2014)
Second-choice right-back. Third-longest-serving player. Always the bridesmaid.

EVERTON

1) Seamus Coleman (January 2009)
Farewell Leighton Baines. Farewell Luke Garbutt. Hello the promoted Seamus Coleman.

2) Muhamed Besic (July 2014)
His last appearance for Everton was in December 2017; don’t expect him to make another.

3) Mason Holgate (August 2015)
A breakthrough season has seen the centre-half commit for the next five years.

 

LEEDS UNITED

1) Kalvin Phillips (July 2014)
The homegrown hope. He is decent.

2) Liam Cooper (August 2014)
The captain who has played under nine different Leeds managers. He probably likes this one best.

3) Stuart Dallas (August 2015)
He started 45 games last season in about seven positions.

 

LEICESTER

1) Kasper Schmeichel (June 2011)
Kasper Schmeichel has been at Leicester longer than Peter Schmeichel was at Manchester United. Weird. Now he is being linked with Manchester United. Even weirder.

2) Wes Morgan (January 2012)
Against all odds, Nigel Pearson’s second Leicester signing – Danny Drinkwater was his first – is still knocking about in the East Midlands.

3) Matty James (May 2012)
Two days before Jamie Vardy arrived, James moved from Manchester United with Richie De Laet. His five minutes against Manchester City in February were his first in the Premier League in almost two years.

 

LIVERPOOL

1) Jordan Henderson (June 2011)
Captain and current FWA Player of the Year. He is a popular chap.

2) Divock Origi (July 2014)
The departures of Adam Lallana and Dejan Lovren boost the status of a man who might well leave for Aston Villa.

3) James Milner (June 2015)
The second-best free transfer in Premier League history.

 

MANCHESTER CITY

1) Sergio Aguero (July 2011)
With the departure of the brilliant David Silva, the baton will pass to the bizarrely under-appreciated Argentine.

2) Fernandinho (July 2013)
He has come a long way since having to choose a different squad number because James Milner was already wearing the No. 7 shirt when he signed.

3) Raheem Sterling (July 2015)
And still only 25. Which underlines how young he was when Liverpool fans made him a figure of hate.

 

MANCHESTER UNITED

1) Chris Smalling (July 2010)
Back from Roma and desperate to return.

2) Phil Jones (June 2011)
Played just 135 minutes of disastrous Premier League football this season. Fair to say he is on the ditch list.

3) David De Gea (June 2011)
The last pre-Woodward signing still at the club. And he’s not been as bad as you think…

 

NEWCASTLE UNITED

1) Paul Dummett (July 2010)
“I don’t think you’ve what it takes to play in my team,” Paul Dummett recalls hearing from Alan Pardew upon his return from a loan at St Mirren in summer 2013. He is still there; Pardew is not.

2) Rolando Aarons (April 2014)
He was supposed to be so, so good. He turned out to be so, so average. A sixth loan spell beckons.

3) Freddie Woodman (July 2014)
His fifth loan spell went so well he will likely return to Swansea and never once play in the Premier League for Newcastle.

 

SHEFFIELD UNITED

1) Chris Basham (June 2014)
Only two members of Sheffield United’s first-team squad pre-date Chris Wilder’s appointment; Basham started all 38 Premier League games five/six years after his arrival on a free transfer. Not bad.

2) Billy Sharp (July 2015)
To feature in 25 Premier League games was probably beyond the wildest dreams of the captain. He’s still rapid.

3) Jack O’Connell and John Fleck (July 2016)
What a day for the League One club. That they have just completed a season in the Premier League still seems extraordinary.

 

SOUTHAMPTON

1) Jack Stephens (April 2011)
A £150,000 signing from Plymouth, centre-back Jack Stephens finally seems to be established at Southampton.

2) James Ward-Prowse (October 2011)
Over 270 games for the Saints and he is still only 25. He played every minute of this Premier League season and ended it as captain.

3) Harrison Reed (August 2013)
The midfielder is about to play the most important game of his career; will it lead to a permanent Fulham deal?

 

TOTTENHAM

1) Danny Rose (July 2007)
“I am very happy to stay at Tottenham and see my last 10 or 11 months out, I would love to,” says Rose. Not sure club or fans would agree.

2) Harry Kane (July 2010)
Arsenal will think twice before releasing the next academy member who is “a bit chubby” and not “very athletic”.

3) Hugo Lloris (August 2012)
Currently, inexplicably, in the form of his life.

 

WEST BROM

1) Jonathan Leko (July 2016)
You know you have a high turnover of players when your longest-serving player is only 21. And is unlikely to play for West Brom again.

2) Sam Field (July 2016)
You know you have a high turnover of players when your second-longest-serving player is only 22. And is unlikely to play for West Brom again.

3) Matt Phillips (July 2016)
Signed by Tony Pulis from QPR for £5.5m, he has played under six (largely useless) Baggies bosses.

 

WEST HAM

1) Mark Noble (August 2004)
Mark Noble is the Premier League’s current longest-serving player. He is the hero none of us deserve.

2) Winston Reid (August 2010)
The scorer of the last ever goal at Upton Park has not played for West Ham since March 2018. Kansas, to save you a Google.

3) Aaron Cresswell (July 2014)
He has three (too many) England caps.

 

WOLVES

1) Matt Doherty (August 2010)
Say what you like about Dean Saunders (remind yourself of this first), he did at least give Matt Doherty his first proper break as a Wolves right-back.

2) Conor Coady (July 2015)
Missed one league game in three years (through suspension).

3) Romain Saiss (August 2016)
“Romain has improved, he’s a versatile player and a very competitive one,” said the boss after rather unexpectedly putting faith in Saiss over Ryan Bennett this season.