Premier League news: Five players bound for relegation to the EFL Championship looking to move on this summer
This year’s Premier League looks set to be somewhat uneventful at the extremities of the table as the season draws to a close.
Arne Slot’s Liverpool sit 11 points clear at the top, with an injury-struck Arsenal looking unable to form a serious fightback, and the three newly promoted sides seemingly doomed to relegation as have Wolves begun to build a gap over Ipswich in 18th.
So, with the task facing Leicester, Southampton and Ipswich looking ever more difficult, Transfer News Blitz’s writer Joe Matthews presents five players to keep an eye out for in the summer transfer window.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Southampton
Taylor Harwood-Bellis is an England international and Manchester City academy graduate brimming with quality.
Over the course of several loan periods, he displayed a calm demeanour on the ball, and a gritty determination off it, earning him a permanent move to Premier League-bound Southampton last summer.
Successive seasons at Stoke City and Burnley, where he made 24 and 35 appearances respectively, helped him build his reputation.
The 23-year-old has gone on to show his class at the highest level, earning him an England call-up, where he scored in a 5-0 drubbing of Ireland.
With the Saints rooted to the bottom of the table, a move away seems like a reasonable option, should he decide against fighting for promotion in next season’s Championship.
Leif Davis, Ipswich Town
It is no illusion that Ipswich have shipped a fair few goals this season, with 54 goals conceded being the joint-third worst in the league.
Yet in the darkness of the Tractor Boys’ backline, Leif Davis stands out as a force to be reckoned with going forward.
After making the permanent move from Leeds in the summer of 2022, he helped guide Ipswich to promotion in 2023/24 with an astonishing 18 assists from left-back, after putting up 14 the year before.
The Premier League has made his defensive frailties more apparent, but that doesn’t mean that at a different club, the holes in his skillset could not be plugged.
Bilal El Khannouss, Leicester City
Leicester have seriously struggled this season, relying on 38-year-old Jamie Vardy as the main goal-scorer, and ultimately the Foxes have struggled to make a serious impression upon their return to the top-flight.
Honestly, the Leicester squad is rather thin on players looking for moves up the table, but Bilal El Khannouss is one of the few with a shout.
The 20-year-old Moroccan is having a fairly quiet season if truth be told, but there is no doubt that he is not helped by the vast gap in quality between his side and their opponents.
The Foxes have averaged just 46% possession so far in the Premier League, and they have the second-fewest touches in the opposition’s box of any side in the competition, only more than Ipswich.
This means that for El Khannouss to be able to make any serious impact, a team with more of the ball, and more attacking content, would hugely aid him.
Tyler Dibling, Southampton
Tyler Dibling made his professional debut last season and has already made himself known as Southampton’s shining light in what has been a dark season.
At the age of just 19, he has been trusted with 22 appearances in the top-flight of English football, and in that time he has caught the attention of many around the league, despite only putting up four goals and two assists.
Notably, Tottenham Hotspur entered the race for the winger in January, going up against German giants Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, showing there is certainly an appetite for the England U19 international across Europe.
With Southampton coming to the end of one of the worst seasons in Premier League history, Dibling looks sure to move on this summer, with the potential of Champions League football on the horizon for the youngster.
Liam Delap, Ipswich Town
Liam Delap this season has firmly established himself as a player worthy of staying in the Premier League.
With 10 goals and two assists, he has been involved in exactly half of Ipswich’s league goals, and his performances have caught the eyes of many scouts around.
Manchester United have shown interest in the 22-year-old, with any fee expected to be around the £40 million mark, as some see him as the solution to the problem Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund have struggled to solve.
Another club in desperate need of a top-class forward is Arsenal.
Kai Havertz is not a conventional forward, and amidst his and Gabriel Jesus’ injury crises, the Gunners will be kicking themselves for not looking for backup in January. Delap could be a cheap alternative.
It would not be ridiculous to say that the England U21 could be the best player in the current bottom three, and it would be even less ridiculous to say he has earned his chance at a side much higher up in the table.
Follow all the latest news, betting tips, rumours and deals with Transfer News Blitz, and follow us on BlueSky as we continue to tell it like it is when it comes to transfer talk.
