Leeds United will need to hope sides above them in the Premier League drop off significantly next season, and losing star players ought to contribute to that decline.
The state of the Premier League right now is such that not many neutrals give Leeds a great chance of staying up next season, and you can’t blame them for holding that opinion.
The last six promoted sides have gone down with a whimper and in the meantime, the same 17 sides have strengthened through two more years of top flight revenue – therefore, a significant drop-off is required for Leeds, Burnley or Sunderland to upset the growing trend.
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Huijsen gone, Kerkez and Zabarnyi next: Could Leeds benefit from Bournemouth’s defensive exits?
Those that missed out on European football are already seeing vital components leave the club early this summer.
Wolves have already lost Matheus Cunha and Rayan Ait-Nouri to the two Manchester clubs, Brentford have lost Thomas Frank and will surely lose Bryan Mbeumo, and Bournemouth are the latest to face that dilemma.
Dean Huijsen’s move to Real Madrid was a foregone conclusion, but this week has seen two other members of their back four edge closer to an exit from Dean Court.
Left-back Milos Kerkez has now agreed £40million move to Liverpool, but the Cherries have already signed a shrewd replacement in Adrien Truffert from Rennes. However, talented centre-back Illya Zabarnyi is subject to strong interest from PSG, who have lodged a £55million bid.
(REUTERS/Phil Noble)
While Andoni Iraola’s side are going to have huge amounts of money to reinvest following Huijsen’s £50million exit to La Liga and their £70million asking price for Zabarnyi, it means plenty of work to do.
Bournemouth, like others, will be looking at totally different setups in crucial areas of the pitch, and unless they reinvest perfectly, slow starts can be expected across a lot of the Premier League in August and September as new signings have to bed in with one another.
Of the Cherries’ back five including goalkeeper from last season, only Adam Smith is set to remain there heading into 25/26, and that level of rebuild is hard to get right straight away, no matter how well you’re run.
A huge downfall has to happen for Bournemouth to be even close to a relegation battle with Leeds, but these exits form part of a wider development in the Premier League, which is those previously comfrotable mid-table sides might see their standards dip next season, allowing promoted sides more chance to bridge the gap.