Some players were already established starters and others have come in from the cold, but each of these have been key after almost being sold in the summer.
10) Abdoulaye Doucoure
It was in the death throes of The Frank Lampard Years – well, agonisingly short of an entire actual year, to be slightly more precise – when Doucoure was ostracised and almost forced out of Everton.
“If the previous manager had stayed a few weeks more, I would have been gone,” Doucoure said this summer to The Athletic, the very same outlet which reported in January that Everton would entertain any and all offers for the midfielder.
None came and instead Sean Dyche inherited a player with a point to prove and the ability to do it. Doucoure is both the highest scorer (eight goals) and joint-best assist provider (three) of the current manager’s reign, his three strikes this season coming in the only games Everton have picked up points in. That one-year contract extension has been well-earned.
9) Marc Cucurella
“Now it’s about working really hard and waiting for the opportunity,” Mauricio Pochettino said at the beginning of October, when the only such chances which had been presented to Cucurella were of the decidedly Carabao variety. “The situation is clear. He is in our plans, and if he deserves to play, he will play.”
Cucurella promptly started in Premier League wins over Fulham and Burnley, before a spirited and even contest with Bukayo Saka in the draw against Arsenal.
“He is training really well,” Pochettino said after that game, adding: “That is him, he deserves the credit because in the last few months he has worked hard.”
A collapsed loan move to Manchester United seemed to underline Cucurella’s post-Brighton plight. It ended up sharpening his focus to make the most of a fresh start at Chelsea.
Enzo Fernandez embraces Marc Cucurella.
8) Jamaal Lascelles
Having appeared for just 213 minutes of Newcastle’s successful Champions League qualification campaign, Lascelles might have spent the off-season preparing to down some vintage Gazprom from a prime position on the St James’ Park touchline. His Newcastle captaincy was long since rendered little more than ceremonial as the club’s rapid transformation demanded the disembarkment of such players as those signed so long ago that Alan Pardew was manager.
An injury to Sven Botman – and the decision not to invest any of those unlimited funds on such eccentricities as a new back-up centre-half – meant the landscape was changed drastically by late September. Lascelles has come in alongside the excellent Fabian Schar and skippered victories over Burnley, Crystal Palace, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain. A draw with West Ham is the only vague blot on the copybook of a player who was reportedly made available for sale in the summer, attracting interest from Wolves, Nottingham Forest and Luton. Bet he’s devastated he stuck around to keep Kylian Mbappe quiet now.
7) Max Kilman
First they came for Conor Coady, and Wolves presumably asked Leicester whether there had been a mistake when submitting an offer of £7.5m before acting on it. Then they came for Nathan Collins, and Wolves were happy to make a small profit on their outlay on the Irishman the previous year. Then they came for Maximilian William Kilman – arguably the greatest of all footballer names to say to the tune of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – and everyone started to wonder why Wolves centre-halves were more in-demand than John Terry NFTs.
No-one ever did come for Craig Dawson, because some things are priceless.
Wolves knocked back a Napoli offer of £30m for Kilman, but were said to have been open to starting negotiations at around £5m more. A counter proposal was never forthcoming and the Italian champions instead settled on Brazilian centre-half Natan to replace Kim-min Jae.
Kilman did not pursue the situation, perhaps aware of the plan to appoint him as captain in place of Ruben Neves to make him that little bit harder for Gareth Southgate to ignore. The 26-year-old has embraced the responsibility and continued his quiet trajectory of improvement at Molineux under Gary O’Neil – who spoke very well on Monday Night Football.
6) Lucas Paqueta
While Sandro Tonali and Nicolo Zaniolo had their summer Premier League moves pushed through before being incriminated in football’s growing problem with gambling, the odds were that many players would not have the same the opportunity to properly bet on themselves. By all accounts, Paqueta fancied Manchester City and the feeling was mutual, but the deal was abandoned when the obstacles starting piling up.
West Ham’s record signing has taken that setback in his stride, channelling any frustration productively instead of ruing how the chance of a lifetime came and went in an instant. Manchester City might still be sniffing around Paqueta if his performances this season are to be taken in isolation, the Aston Villa one is ignored and those asterisks surrounding him are removed.
READ MORE: West Ham star slammed for ‘strolling around’ in a ‘mood’ amid £80m Man City links
5) Kyle Walker
“Decisions can be made, things can turn. It was close but in football things can happen. It wasn’t meant to be,” said Walker of his abandoned reunion with Harry Kane at Bayern Munich. Having won everything with Manchester City, it was assumed the 33-year-old might seek new pastures to sprint through. But the captain’s armband and a few more years on his contract tempted Walker into staying at the Etihad.
“Why should I walk away if I am going to get enough game time that’s right for me? That is all I want,” the right-back added last month. No-one has played more minutes for Manchester City so far this season. Sometimes all you have to do is ask (and be abnormally quick and good).
4) Lucas Digne
It is without Tyrone Mings, Emiliano Buendia, Jacob Ramsey and Alex Moreno that Aston Villa have continued to excel under Unai Emery this season. None of those players will automatically command a place in the starting line-up upon their return, such has been the seamlessness with which their replacements have adjusted.
The last of that quartet, left-back Moreno – apologies to Liverpool fans for whom that is a trigger phrase – is yet to recover from a long-term hamstring injury. Villa have options in the position but only Digne can replicate that same attacking verve and defensive reliability. The Frenchman has five assists already and those links with Nottingham Forest, Nice and Saudi Arabia seem like a distant memory.
3) Gabriel Magalhaes
It was a funny old start to the season for Gabriel, who had missed a mere 92 minutes of the previous 73 Premier League games leading into this campaign, yet found himself inexplicably benched for all three of Arsenal’s matches in August. The Thomas Partey at right-back experiment was a much simpler time than the whole goalkeeper discourse, certainly.
Had Mikel Arteta been listening a little too closely to Rio Ferdinand? The Spaniard never publicly divulged his specific reasons behind the tactical decision to leave Gabriel out, but it nevertheless sparked suggestions he might be sold to Real Madrid or become the latest sacrifice to the PIF gods during The Great Saudi Arabia Transfer Summer.
Neither scenario materialised; it is unclear whether they were viable options in the first place, or simply the work of a mischievous agent trying to push the agenda of his client. But this is football so it was definitely the latter. Gabriel was restored to the line-up once Arteta realised he was being a bit daft. The Brazilian centre-half celebrated by launching the single most ambitious and brilliant offside trap ever conceived.
Genuinely outrageous IQ by Gabriel to play him offside.
Won the game for Arsenal with this move.
Fantastic, @biel_m04. 👏 pic.twitter.com/uDUYCe7ZMe
— Connor Humm (@TikiTakaConnor) September 3, 2023
2) Harry Maguire
A compelling case could easily be made for Scott McTominay, whose three goals in 248 Premier League minutes have helped deliver six points. But the Scot’s potential departure from Manchester United never felt as far down the line as that of renaissance king Maguire who, according to Erik ten Hag, “is playing like we want him to play”.
The reality is that Maguire playing at all is very much the opposite of what Ten Hag wants; the Dutchman’s preference would be for Raphael Varane to offer a semblance of reliable availability, for Lisandro Martinez to stop being butchered by long-term injuries, and even for Luke Shaw to return to free him or Victor Lindelof up as a central option.
Maguire at the very least was reticent to move to West Ham on the basis that he wanted to fight for his place back, was roundly criticised for that decision, yet has currently been entirely vindicated. Whether that remains the case in the long run remains to be seen, but Maguire has already made his point emphatically.
1) Conor Gallagher
A Pochettino player if ever there was one. Chelsea should thank their lucky stars that Gallagher’s potential summer suitors made the same mistake as they initially did in undervaluing him.
