Premier League: Offseason Needs for 2019/20

The season is over for all but 4 of this year’s Premier League teams. With just the Champions League and Europa League finals still to play, the thoughts of most teams will have now drifted to next season and another push for Premier League success/survival.

With that in mind, I decided to have a quick look at each of the 17 teams still in the league next season and give my thoughts on the priorities for each team this summer. Obviously, some teams have many more needs than others, so I have decided to limit each team to a maximum of 2 needs for this article.

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Brighton & Hove Albion:

Glenn Murray’s 13 league goals were crucial to Brighton avoiding relegation this season, but will be turning 36 early next season, so there is no guarantee how much longer he can keep performing at the top level. New head coach Graham Potter needs to bring in another striker who can contribute 10-15 goals per season to complement Murray over the next season (their next highest league scorer was Shane Duffy with 5 goals) and eventually take over from him in the long term.

Southampton:

Southampton need goals. Their top league scorers this season were Danny Ings and James Ward-Prowse, who each had 7. Between Ings, Charlie Austin and Shane Long, they have a decent enough set of strikers to compete around mid-table, however they need someone to supply the ball to them in the form of a winger. If someone can put the ball into the right area, they have the players to put the ball in the back of the net.

Burnley:

Between Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes, Burnley have a quality pair of strikers, yet they accounted for almost half of the team’s goals this season. In Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson, Robbie Brady and Aaron Lennon gives them a good supply of ball from the outside, but they need to bring in an attacking midfielder that can pop up with a decent return of goals to take some of the pressure off their strikers.

AFC Bournemouth:

First things first, Bournemouth need to find a way to hold onto Callum Wilson. While Josh King also hit double digits, Wilson showed himself to be one of the best strikers outside of a top 6 club with 14 league goals from 23 games. While they could likely get good money for him, a player who is used to the league and this club’s style of play is invaluable.

Newcastle United:

We move away from the pitch with Newcastle and look at the ownership of this club. Mike Ashley is holding back this team with his unwillingness to spend big money and eventually Rafa Benitez – one of the best managers in the league – will get tired of not being given any support in the transfer market. Signing Miguel Almiron was a step in the right direction, but will not be enough in the long term and until Ashley sells to someone willing to financially support their manager, this is a team that will be stuck in the bottom half of the table.

Crystal Palace:

Crystal Palace are relatively tight at the back and play in an organised way that really helps them limit the number of goals conceded, so the help they need comes up front. Michy Batshayi contributed 5 league goals in 11 appearances and Palace need to do everything they can to keep hold of him or find another striker that can play regular football with a goal every couple of matches. There’s no way they can continue to rely on Luka Milivojević being given umpteen penalties a season and their other strikers contributed nothing in the way of goals.

As well as making sure they have a reliable striker next season, Palace need to try to hold on to Wilfried Zaha. The Ivorian international is the clear star of the team and has clearly matured as a player since his failed spell at Manchester United. He is so hard to defend, oppositions need to strategize against him, which gives space to other players and in many cases also results in a number of attacking free kicks courtesy of him being taken out.

Watford:

I’m going to move away from the pitch again for a moment and say that Watford’s priority should be to keep hold of manager Javi Gracia. Since Gino Pozzo acquired the club in June 2012, a whopping 10 managers have been in charge of the club, starting with Sean Dyche who was dismissed almost immediately despite the club’s best finish in 4 years. One and a half years in charge has been a long spell since then, but that is never going to allow a team to truly develop until there is consistency at the top.

West Ham United:

For me, West Ham need to take a look at their defence this summer. Pablo Zabaleta and Angelo Ogbonna are both the wrong side of 30, Aaron Cresswell is 29 and 30-year-old Winston Reid hasn’t played all season following an injury. While some of these players may still have a couple of good seasons in them, they need to start bringing in some talented youngsters either via transfers or the Academy and bed them in while they still have experienced stars there to learn off.

Leicester City:

Leicester’s success this season falls heavily on striker Jamie Vardy, who scored 18 goals in 34 league appearances this season. However, he is 32 and as a player who relies heavily on his pace, it is just a matter of time before time catches up on him. Brendan Rodgers needs to start looking at life after Vardy while also maximising the time they have him by finding a younger striker who can share time with him next season. Kelechi Iheanacho has not lived up to his promise from his time at Manchester City and Shinji Okazaki has been let go. Will Demarai Gray be the answer, or will Rodgers look to bring someone new in?

Everton:

Everton have a strong squad, but they need to find themselves a striker who can get them 15-20 goals a season. Cenk Tosun has only managed 8 goals in 39 league appearances since joining in January 2018, and while Dominic Calvert-Lewin is only young and could be the man to lead the line in the future, his 3 seasons at the club have resulted in just 11 goals from 79 games. With Richarlison and Gylfi Sigurðsson in their ranks, it won’t take much for the Toffees to push themselves back towards the top 6.

Wolverhampton Wanderers:

For Wolves, it is a simple one: get some strength in depth. 10 members of the squad played over 30 times in the league, while a further 4 played over 20 matches. With them now also in the Europa League next season, there is a distinct risk that they will struggle in the early months like Burnley did, unless they can spread the appearances around the squad more.

Manchester United:

Get David de Gea’s contract sorted. He had a poor end to the season, but is a world class goalkeeper and if he wants to stay, then the board should be doing everything in their power to get a new contract signed as soon as possible. This guy will continue to make match-winning saves for the team and make any defence look better than it really is when you look at the number of clean sheets and goals conceded.

After such a poor season for United, this need to be the moment where things start over. Players who are not up to the quality needed, or who don’t want to put in 110% for the club should be offloaded and replaced with talented, driven individuals. Paul Pogba cares about himself rather than the club, but could still warrant a decent price on the market. Martial has not done enough consistently to prove himself worthy of a place. Very few of the defence are good enough to be there, with Victor Lindelöf, Luke Shaw and Diogo Dalot probably the only regulars who should continue to regularly play next season. Alexis Sanchez, Fred and Romelu Lukaku both deserve 1 more season to prove themselves worthy of a place in the United team, unless the right money is offered. 2018/19 is a complete reset year.

Arsenal:

The Gunners’ 73 goals scored put them comfortably 3^rd in the season’s rankings, however their 51 goals conceded was more than Manchester City and Liverpool combined and seriously harmed them this year. They kept only 8 clean sheets, which is nowhere near good enough for a team hoping to make the top 4. The fullbacks are great attacking talents, but defensively leave something to be desired, while the centre backs are too slow, don’t position themselves well enough and are prone to errors. If Unai Emery can bring in a couple of talented centre backs, I can imagine a drastic improvement similar to what we saw with Virgil van Dijk and Liverpool this season.

Tottenham Hotspur: So for Spurs, I spoke to an old friend and die-hard fan, Chris (who has also supplied a number of pictures for the sight in the past), as I had a few ideas but wanted to also include his expertise.

First up is a central midfielder. The defence on the whole is OK and there is talent further forward, but the middle of the park was lacking. Injury in November, then his transfer to the Chinese Super League in January left Spurs really missing a midfield presence to balance out the team. Daniel Levy does not like to spend big money, but if they want to take the step forward and follow up a Champions League final with a chance of winning the Premier League, they need to find an elite player at the position.

Next up is finding a second striker to back up Harry Kane. Vincent Jansen played so little I forgot he even played for the club, while Fernando Llorente scored just 1 league goal and at 34 is a player reaching the end. Son Heung-min and Lucas Moura are versatile enough to chip in with enough goals to keep Spurs going in Kane’s absence, but they do not have the aerial presence that he does, which makes it more difficult if he is rested or injured.

Chelsea:

Chelsea’s transfer ban limits what they can do this summer, which makes the first need all the more important: find a way to keep hold of Eden Hazard! The Belgian, who looks set to leave for Real Madrid this summer, scored 16 of Chelsea’s 63 Premier League goals this season (25%) and has been the shining light in a questionable team. Like we have seen this season with some of David de Gea’s struggles highlighting just how poor his defence has been over the years, losing Hazard and hoping that Pedro, Willian, Christian Pulisic et al. can do in his absence could see the Blues struggle next season.

I’ve been critical of Maurizio Sarri this season and in my opinion, Chelsea need to move on from him this summer and find a new manager. Despite having quality strikers this season in Alvaro Morata, Gonzalo Higuain and Olivier Giroud, he never felt that he could rely on any of them and often wasted Hazard as a striker. Getting rid of Sarri and bringing in the right manager could be just what is needed to convince Hazard to stay. With the transfer ban, this would be the perfect opportunity as well to give a new manager a season to bed themselves in with the team, so that next summer they can look to bring in their own players after a year of seeing who fits in their squad.

Liverpool:

Having come so close to the title this season, it will not take much for the Reds to push for the top again next season. Liverpool have a strong XI and even most of their replacements are of high quality, but they are currently finding themselves short at both fullback positions. Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold are one of the best fullback pairings in the league, but should anything happen to them, they are lacking the depth behind them. James Milner is a quality player who will always put in 100% for the club, but he is not someone who you want to see lining up at fullback if you are hoping to win your first Premier League title.

Manchester City:

What do City need to improve on after winning the league title with the best goal difference despite one of their stars Kevin de Bruyne being hampered by injury for much of the season? Not much, but I did still manage to pick out one area to strengthen. Fernandinho’s work in the holding midfield role has been a key part of City’s defensive success, but at 34 years old, he is the oldest outfield player in this season’s squad. City could do with finding his replacement and using the next season to rotate between the pair so that the new player is ready to take over sometime in the next few years.

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What would you say the biggest needs are?