A helluva lot of money has been spent already this summer and we’ve spared a thought for those poor academy lads.
Hope will have dwindled for these guys on the back of big arrivals…
Emile Smith Rowe (Arsenal)
Not all that long ago Smith Rowe was being mentioned in the same breath as Bukayo Saka. They were the future. But while Saka’s stock has risen stratospherically, his academy pal has has been left in the dust. Saka started 37 of Arsenal’s Premier League games last term; Smith Rowe didn’t start any, featuring for just 161 minutes in total.
That was before the signings of Kai Havertz and Declan Rice, who arrived one after the other in quick succession like a jab before a knockout blow for Smith Rowe. Either could play in the positions the 22-year-old has customarily been deployed in for Arsenal, leaving him looking up at a pecking order he was near the top of for the whole of 2021.
“Arsenal are my club and I’m not going to give up until [Arteta] says he doesn’t want me,” Smith Rowe said last month in an admirable show of loyalty, but he also admitted “I just want to be on the pitch,” and that will surely become his priority sooner rather than later.
Curtis Jones (Liverpool)
Took Football365’s slam piece very personally indeed and was really rather good at the end of last season, with his return to form mirroring Liverpool’s to such a degree that it’s hard to dismiss it as coincidence. Defeats on the bounce to Bournemouth and Manchester City saw Jones return to the starting line-up for the last 11 games of the season, with Liverpool winning seven and drawing four.
“It doesn’t faze me, I don’t care,” Jones said when asked in April how he felt about the inevitable midfield additions Liverpool would make this summer. He must care a little bit though, and even the greatest of Jones fans wouldn’t put him in a starting XI ahead of Alexis Mac Allister or Dominik Szoboszlai.
Armando Broja (Chelsea)
The signing of Nicolas Jackson could be seen as a challenge by Broja. The £32m man is just a year older than him and has fewer senior goals: 13 to Broja’s 21. Jackson isn’t a certain starter as a more high-profile addition like Dusan Vlahovic or Lautaro Martinez would be. He provides competition without blocking Broja’s path to the first team.
Chelsea could of course still make that marquee striker signing, but even without one reports suggest Broja is considering his future at Stamford Bridge. Shame, because he could catch fire.
Callum Hudson-Odoi (Chelsea)
Who knows how much better off Callum Hudson-Odoi may now be had he moved to Bayern Munich in October 2020, but things surely couldn’t have gone much worse. And Chelsea would be £50m better off.
Good on him for turning down a move to Saudi Arabia – that would have been a painful and worrying call from a 22-year-old who has so much talent to realise – but Hudson-Odoi does look set to leave Chelsea this summer, with the surely imminent departures of Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech doing little to alleviate concerns over playing time ramped up by the arrival of Christopher Nkunku.
Trevoh Chalobah (Chelsea)
Stole hearts with his debut goal and emotional celebration in August 2021 and has looked pretty good since then. He’s not the finished article and unfortunately for him patience is a vice not a virtue at Chelsea, who have sent one of his competitors for a starting place on their way to Saudi Arabia after just one season and have opened the door for a club legend to further decrease centre-back options for Mauricio Pochettino.
But the looming figure of Levi Colwill (OK, not really a transfer but go with it) will provide a significant obstacle for Chalobah, with his loan return meaning the 24-year-old will likely be a fifth-choice centre-back behind Colwill, Thiago Silva, Benoit Badiashile and Wesley Fofana.
Newcastle are apparently keen on Chalobah, as are a number of Serie A clubs.
READ MORE: Liverpool ‘record’ deal for Levi Colwill to reveal Chelsea prejudice over Mount to Man Utd
Elliot Anderson (Newcastle)
Anderson made 27 appearances last season, mainly as a substitute, and the general trajectory of an academy graduate would see him build on that experience next term with an increase in minutes and starts. But Sandro Tonali has put that development path in jeapardy.
European football may grant Anderson the game time he needs, though more likely through EFL Cup games few give a sh*t about than midweek nights on the continent.
READ MORE: Newcastle United paying Toon Tax for Sandro Tonali and it won’t be the last time in Stage Two
Scott McTominay (Manchester United)
Whether the reports are true or not, it can’t feel great to be offered up as a 30 per cent makeweight in a deal to sign a much better footballer. If United are indeed after Moises Caicedo – which seems incredibly optimistic given their financial contraints, even with McTominay sprinkles – the Scotsman is entirely f***ed.
But even through the addition of Mason Mount his game time looks set to be further limited, with the Chelsea man a possibility for Erik ten Hag in a midfield that has to include Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes, with Christian Eriksen next off the blocks.
