Premier League clubs will already be planning who they want to bring in this summer when the transfer market reopens, but making sure they hold on to key players is also a major part of successful squad building.
As Liverpool have found out with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, it can be challenging for clubs if contracts drift into the final year, or even the final two years.
Here, we look at which Premier League players are entering a crucial period in their deals.
Arsenal
Key players (contract end date in brackets): Jorginho, Thomas Partey (2025), Oleksandr Zinchenko, Takehiro Tomiyasu (2026), Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel, Leandro Trossard, William Saliba (2027)
Arsenal’s most immediate contractual decisions will focus on Jorginho and Partey. The two midfielders have been important to Mikel Arteta, but the departure of one or both could give the manager a chance to reinvent his midfield. Kieran Tierney, whose Arsenal deal expires this summer, will rejoin Celtic.
Zinchenko and Tomiyasu will reach the end of their contracts in 2026. That could make Zinchenko an asset to sell this summer, while the club’s option for an extra year in Tomiyasu’s deal may be preferred in a summer he will spend recovering from injury.
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It will be a big year in 2027 for Arsenal. Saka, Martinelli, Jesus, Gabriel, Trossard and Saliba will be coming to the end of their deals. Their importance to the team means their deals should take priority over those whose terms end in 2025 and 2026.
Jordan Campbell
Aston Villa
Key players: Lucas Digne, Tyrone Mings (2026), Boubacar Kamara (2027)
Kortney Hause has not played for over two years due to injury and will leave this summer. Robin Olsen is in a similar predicament.
Digne has gone from being expendable in the summer of 2023 due to his high weekly salary of £120,000 ($150,000) to Villa’s first-choice left-back. Unai Emery must decide whether to negotiate a new contract for a 31-year-old who remains integral or remove his wage and allow Ian Maatsen, 22, to come through. No discussions have been held.
Mings’ situation will be a wait-and-see case, given his fitness issues. If he can return to a level of consistency and availability, Villa will then make a decision.
Kamara has not held contract talks and is entering the final two years at the end of the season. He is arguably Villa’s best player but also represents a beneficial profit and sustainability (PSR) asset, with some of Europe’s top clubs having Kamara on their shortlist when searching for a deep-lying midfielder. For Emery, a new agreement would be the favoured option.
Jacob Tanswell
Kamara is one of Villa’s leading players (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Bournemouth
Key players: Kepa Arrizabalaga (2025), Adam Smith, David Brooks, Marcos Senesi (2026), Ryan Christie (2027)
The immediate concern for Bournemouth will be Kepa, as his loan move expires in June. Smith and Brooks are out of contract in 2026. Bournemouth have alternatives for both but Brooks is only 27 and could be entering his peak. Smith, who turns 34 in April, has delivered under different managers, but his recovery from the injury that has kept him out since December could be crucial to his future.
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Senesi has not played since November due to a hamstring injury that required surgery, with Dean Huijsen taking the chances afforded to him as a result. Senesi played well alongside Huijsen and Illia Zabarnyi to start the season and his passing range is valuable to Iraola’s system.
Christie’s case may not require immediate attention, but his presence in the base of midfield has been key after Lewis Cook shifted to right-back, and he has established a solid partnership with Tyler Adams.
Anantaajith Raghuraman
Brentford
Key players: Josh Dasilva, Ben Mee, Christian Norgaard (2025), Bryan Mbeumo, Rico Henry, Yoane Wissa, Vitaly Janelt (2026)
Brentford’s biggest contract dilemma surrounds Norgaard. For the second time in the last three seasons, they have allowed the club’s captain to enter the final six months of his deal — back in 2022-23, it was Pontus Jansson who rejoined his boyhood club Malmo.
Thomas Frank and Norgaard have a great relationship, which can be linked back to when the former was in charge of Denmark’s youth teams. Brentford have the option to trigger an extra 12 months on the midfielder’s deal. When everybody is ready, they will sit down and work out whether to activate that option or negotiate a new contract.
Brentford have a huge decision to make about the long-term futures of Mbeumo and Wissa. Their contracts expire in 2026 but both contain a one-year option. They have been in exceptional form and have attracted interest from other clubs. Brentford need to decide whether this summer is the best time to cash in on their prized assets.
They need to learn their lesson from allowing David Raya and Ivan Toney to enter the final 12 months of their deal before selling them, which weakened their negotiating position and lowered the final fee they received.
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Brighton
Key players: Joel Veltman, Tariq Lamptey (2025), Simon Adingra (2026), Kaoru Mitoma (2027)
The biggest question is what happens to Mitoma. Two bids that peaked at £61million from Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr were turned down for the 27-year-old in January. Mitoma was not interested in the move, and Brighton did not want to lose him midway through the season.
Two years left on his existing deal falls into time to renegotiate territory for a player of Mitoma’s stature.
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Veltman has indicated an option year is set to be taken up on his contract, keeping the experienced Dutch defender at the club until at least the end of next season. But the futures of right-back Lamptey and Ivory Coast winger Adingra are unclear.
Andy Naylor
(Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
Chelsea
Key players: None
Take a bow, Chelsea Football Club. This is one issue where they do not have anything to worry about. Only backup goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli (2026) and 19-year-old academy graduate Tyrique George (2027 plus an option for another 12 months) fit into this window.
Handing players they want to keep — and basically every signing — a long-term deal has been part of the philosophy since the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium took over in 2022. It was emphasised this season when they gave Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson a two-year extension even though their original deals didn’t expire until 2031.
This stance reduces the risk of a player winding their deal down and leaving on a free, while also improving their short-term position on PSR. A transfer fee could previously be amortised over the whole length of a deal. For example, a £50million transfer that comes with a five-year contract goes down on the books at £10m a year.
Chelsea regularly offer longer terms than that but in 2023, UEFA and the Premier League voted for amortisation to be limited to a maximum of five years.
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Crystal Palace
Key players: Will Hughes (2025 plus one-year club option), Marc Guehi (2026), Jean-Philippe Mateta, Eberechi Eze (both 2027)
Palace have two main conundrums. The first is England centre-back Guehi, who will have only a year remaining in the summer and who has attracted interest from many Premier League sides. There have been no obvious indications he will commit to agreeing a new deal.
They also must decide what to do with Mateta, who has scored 11 Premier League goals this season. Mateta walked away from contract discussions in the summer and has ambitions to play in the Champions League and for France.
As with Guehi, Palace will only receive maximum financial value by selling the 27-year-old this summer.
Will Hughes is out of contract this summer but Palace hold an option to extend it by a year. Talks over a new contract are being held. Eberechi Eze’s deal, meanwhile, is up in 2027.
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Everton
Key players: Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Abdoulaye Doucoure, Idrissa Gueye, Seamus Coleman (all 2025), James Tarkowski (2026)
A huge summer rebuild is on the cards. Including loanees, 14 members of David Moyes’ squad are out of contract.
Chief among them are Calvert-Lewin, Doucoure and Gueye. The club have an option to extend Doucoure’s deal by a further year, but Calvert-Lewin has left a new contract offer — submitted towards the end of last season — unsigned.
Everton will also need to decide on Carlos Alcaraz, the signing from Flamengo. There is a mandatory purchase clause of €15million should the 22-year-old start another seven games before the end of the campaign. Moyes has said decisions are on hold until the club’s Premier League status is confirmed, but has stressed the need to then move quickly.
Clarity will also be needed on defensive stalwart Tarkowski as he enters his final year.
Patrick Boyland
Everton have an option to extend Doucoure’s deal (James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)
Fulham
Key players: Kenny Tete, Tom Cairney and Willian (all 2025), Adama Traore and Raul Jimenez (both 2025, club retain one-year option), Harry Wilson (2026)
A trend is emerging at Fulham. Last summer, three first-team regulars (Tosin Adarabioyo, Bobby De Cordova-Reid and Willian) left the club as free agents. Now, the club are facing a similar problem.
The contracts of Tete, Cairney, Traore, Jimenez and Willian (who re-signed this winter) end in June. Fulham hold one-year options on Traore and Jimenez’s deals, giving them some short-term security, but Tete is expected to depart after losing his starting spot at right-back.
That leaves Willian and club captain Cairney playing for their futures. Even if Traore (29) and Jimenez (33) stay for another season, Fulham’s squad is one of the oldest in the Premier League. A refresh will be required, one way or another.
Justin Guthrie
Ipswich Town
Key players: Axel Tuanzebe (2025, club retain one-year option), Conor Chaplin, Nathan Broadhead, Wes Burns, Sam Morsy (2026)
Ipswich have tied up the majority of their immediate contract concerns, with Leif Davis and Luke Woolfenden signing new deals. Of the five players out of contract this summer — Tuanzebe, Cameron Burgess, Massimo Luongo, Marcus Harness (on loan at Derby) and Elkan Baggott (on loan at Blackpool) — only Luongo’s deal does not include a club option to extend by a year.
Several players who were key to Ipswich’s successive promotions and have remained regular contributors this season have deals expiring in 2026, including captain Morsy, who will be closing in on his 35th birthday when his existing contract is up. Broadhead and Jack Taylor are approaching their peak years and will enter the final 12 months of their contracts next season. The pair would be expected to play important roles if Ipswich return to the Championship.
George Hirst would likely become Ipswich’s first-choice striker once more if Liam Delap departs in the summer — The Athletic reported Chelsea and Manchester United are among his admirers — and Hirst’s contract is up in 2027.
Ali Rampling
Leicester City
Key players: Jamie Vardy (2025), Jordan Ayew, Ricardo Pereira, Boubakary Soumare (all 2026), Jannik Vestergaard, Bobby De Cordova-Reid, Wilfred Ndidi, Wout Faes (all 2027)
Most of Leicester’s key assets, including Mads Hermansen and Bilal El Khannouss, have contracts until 2028. The others on the list above have been first-team starters this season, but their performances mean any contract extensions are linked to Leicester’s fortunes.
If Leicester are relegated, an overhaul of the squad will be required, meaning Hermansen and El Khannouss will likely be sold.
This summer could also be the end for Vardy at Leicester after 13 years at the club. The 38-year-old has signed one-year contract extensions in the last two summers but this season, talk has been very quiet over a new deal.
Could the Vardy-Leicester story come to an end? (Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
If the club stay up, fresh terms would seem more likely, but relegation will add huge pressure to the club’s finances as they are likely to face a budget restriction, and Vardy is their highest-paid player.
Rob Tanner
Liverpool
Key players: Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk (2025), Andy Robertson, Ibrahima Konate, Caoimhin Kelleher (2026)
Liverpool’s most pressing concern is sorting out the future of Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold. All three have been offered lucrative contract extensions but none has agreed on terms. With all sides keeping their counsel over the terms on offer, it’s hard to judge whether demands have been excessive or the offers unacceptable.
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It doesn’t stop there for Liverpool.
Of equal importance is sorting an extension for Konate, the centre-half who is attracting interest from several top clubs across Europe and is out of contract in 2026. A deal has also been offered and Liverpool have made clear that Konate is seen as a big part of the future.
Kelleher’s future is murkier. He is also set to be a free agent next summer but Liverpool are likely to cash in this summer if they receive a big offer, with Giorgi Mamardashvili also joining up with the squad.
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The search for a young left-back continues as Liverpool look for a long-term successor for Robertson. Extending the Scot’s contract is not out of the question, though, as he remains an integral part of the team.
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Manchester City
Key players: John Stones, Bernardo Silva (2026), Rodri, Ruben Dias, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden (2027)
The most issue for City is Rodri. Talks were ongoing amid interest from Real Madrid before he picked up his knee injury. A source close to the squad — who spoke anonymously to protect relationships — said talks with Dias have been on hold while City focused on strengthening the squad in January and renewing Erling Haaland’s terms, but Dias hopes to extend.
Two players, Stones and Grealish, have not performed regularly enough over the past two seasons for it to make sense to offer them new deals right now. Bernardo is dealt with on a summer-by-summer basis due to his previous desires to leave.
Foden feels like a less complicated negotiation than some others, although it will need to be finalised. Agreements with Manuel Akanji, Nathan Ake and Mateo Kovacic (all 2027) can probably wait if need be, while new director of football Hugo Viana juggles the various contracts and new signings required ahead of next season.
Sam Lee
Manchester United
Key players: Victor Lindelof, Jonny Evans, Christian Eriksen, Tom Heaton (all 2025), Casemiro (2026), Kobbie Mainoo (2027 plus one-year club option)
The four players out of contract this summer have been on the periphery of Ruben Amorim’s squad, so none would be expected to have extensions offered. There might be talks ahead for Heaton and Evans who, having come through the club’s academy system, have valuable experience and insight to offer around Carrington.
Lindelof, 30, has only made 11 appearances this season, his time limited by injury, while Eriksen, 33, has scored four times in 23 games, but earns a wage towards the higher end of United’s pay structure, so is set to leave.
Casemiro’s terms make him one of the top earners, and he has another 15 months to go. With INEOS looking to trim costs, he is viewed as an excessive outlay. It may be that club executives try to arrange an earlier exit this summer.
Mainoo is an interesting case in that he has a plus-one clause in his contract, taking him to 2028, so the need for fresh terms is perhaps not as pressing. But the 19-year-old’s wage, agreed in February 2023, is modest compared to his standing. A crunch point may come soon on a reevaluation.
Laurie Whitwell
Mainoo’s salary is modest considering his position at United (Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
Newcastle United
Key players: Callum Wilson (2025 plus one-year club option), Fabian Schar (2025), Nick Pope, Dan Burn (2026), Joe Willock, Sven Botman (2027)
Newcastle’s squad requires significant surgery this summer, but contract negotiations with Schar will be a factor. The 33-year-old is in discussions and is expected to agree an extension. Regardless of whether he signs, a new right-sided centre-half is a priority.
Newcastle can exercise a one-year extension in Wilson’s deal, but he is 33, is a high-earner and has a poor injury record, so he will probably depart.
Pope’s form may have been questionable since his return from injury, but he is Eddie Howe’s No 1 goalkeeper and it would be preferable to keep the England international. Burn is 32, but is a mainstay and a vital member of the leadership group.
In a little over two years, Willock and Botman are set to be available on free transfers. At 25, Botman still has his best years ahead of him, yet he has yet to enter negotiations with the club.
Chris Waugh
Nottingham Forest
Key players: Ola Aina (2025 plus one-year club option), Neco Williams, Callum Hudson-Odoi (2026), Morgan Gibbs-White (2027)
Forest remain hopeful of agreeing a long-term contract extension with Aina, with negotiations having gone on for several months. Although they have an option to extend his current deal until 2026, so he is still tied to the club in the short term.
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Willy Boly and Harry Toffolo (both 2025) are respected players in the Forest squad but are fringe figures. Boly was the subject of interest from Saudi Arabia last year.
Forest have the contract situations of Williams and Hudson-Odoi on their radar and, beyond that, also hope to agree an extended, improved deal with Morgan Gibbs-White, to recognise his growing influence and rise onto the international stage, with England.
Paul Taylor
Southampton
Key players: Kyle Walker-Peters, Jack Stephens (2025), Will Smallbone, Joe Aribo (2026)
It’s hard to make a strong case for the future of many of Southampton’s players at the moment — partly because next season looks like it will be in the Championship and not everyone will want to stick around. But also, many have not been performing to a standard to make it worth rushing to offer them new deals.
The standout among them is Walker-Peters, who has long been one of the team’s best performers. Captain Stephens proved himself to be adept in the Championship, although his performances this season have left a lot to be desired. Still, it could be worth keeping the academy product around beyond this summer.
And then in the summer after next, both Aribo and Smallbone’s deals will be up and are the picks of a batch of contracts expiring then. The point remains, however, that Southampton are a team in flux.
Nancy Froston
Tottenham
Key players: Sergio Reguilon, Fraser Forster, Ben Davies (2025), Son Heung-min, Yves Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur (2026)
At the beginning of the year, Spurs announced they had triggered the one-year option in Son’s contract. In theory, it means he will stay with them until at least 2026.
At some point, Spurs need to have a difficult conversation with their captain about what the future looks like. Son will be considered a club legend when he leaves, but is he guaranteed to start every week when Ange Postecoglou has a fully fit squad? Would Son be prepared to accept a reduced role? He has been directly involved in 15 goals in the league this season, but it is difficult to recall many times where he has produced game-changing moments in the same way he used to a few years ago.
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Postecoglou spoke positively about Bentancur’s long-term future before last week’s defeat to Manchester City but a decision needs to be made on his midfield rival Bissouma. If Archie Gray’s long-term future is as a defensive midfielder, do Spurs need Bissouma and Bentancur?
Davies’ contract is due to expire in a few months but The Athletic reported in November that Spurs intend on triggering a one-year option in his deal.
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Son has not reproduced his previous form this season for Spurs (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
West Ham
Key players: Lukasz Fabianski, Danny Ings, Michail Antonio, Vladimir Coufal, Aaron Cresswell (all 2025), Emerson (2026 with one-year option), Lucas Paqueta, Alphonse Areola, Tomas Soucek, James Ward-Prowse, Guido Rodriguez (2027).
There are uncertainties surrounding the futures of several players. Fabianski has lost the No 1 jersey to Areola, Ings has had limited game time, Antonio is recovering from a broken leg, Coufal was the subject of interest from Fulham on deadline day, while Cresswell has been restored to the line-up under Graham Potter.
All are approaching the end of their careers. When aging players are reaching the end of their contracts, it is West Ham’s policy to review the situation at the end of the season.
Emerson, who has been dislodged by Ollie Scarles, is yet to enter talks with a potential contract extension. There are no immediate concerns for the futures of Ward-Prowse, Areola, Soucek, Rodriguez and Paqueta.
Roshane Thomas
Wolves
Key players: Nelson Semedo (2025), Rayan Ait-Nouri (2026 plus one-year option)
Semedo’s contract has been attracting the most conversation among Wolves fans but we are no closer to knowing how it will go. Wolves want to keep the full-back and talks have taken place but, with the club looking to reduce their wage bill, the Portugal international will need to agree to a cut if he wants to stay.
If he does not, a parting of the ways feels likely.
Craig Dawson and Pablo Sarabia are also out of contract but the former has effectively been released already, albeit he is still being paid, while Sarabia is unlikely to remain beyond the end of the season.
Even with a club-weighted option until 2027, Ait-Nouri’s contract will need to be discussed soon to avoid a repeat of the Semedo situation.
Steve Madeley
(Top photos: Getty Images)
