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Chelsea’s net spending on players over the last four years has been calculated at €795m, second only to the slow-motion car crash that is Manchester United, and they have managed to abide by the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules by signing their young stars to contracts as long as 10 years but on (relatively) lower wages.

Last year’s big-spending flops Spurs, who won the Europa League final but finished 17th in the league, and Manchester United, who lost it and were 15th, seek to regroup with a new manager and lots of expensive new players respectively.

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Probably the sole reason Ruben Amorim is still in charge at United after presiding over their worst Premier League finish is that he was only appointed in November

Caoimhin Kelleher (L) and Nathan Collins are now club and international team-mates

Last season, 15 Irish internationals played a combined 17,212 minutes in the Premier League, a 7.5% increase on 2023-24, after the nadir of 9,326 minutes in 2022-23

However, the relegated contingents at Leicester City (Kasey McAteer), Ipswich Town (Chiedozie Ogbene, Dara O’Shea, Jack Taylor and Sammie Szmodics) and Southampton (Ryan Manning and Will Smallbone) have not quite been replaced by those of the newly promoted Burnley (Josh Cullen and a likely departing Michael Obafemi) and Sunderland (Alan Browne) as the financial gravity of the Premier League continues to pull in most of the world’s best players like a black hole

There are also a handful of younger Irish players like Brighton left-back Jacob Slater and Crystal Palace right-winger Franco Umeh, who were in squads last season and will hope to make the breakthrough of a Premier League appearance.


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