Premier League Disappointment XI

There’s nothing like a bit of positivity to lift you after the end of the Premier League season. If that’s your chosen medicine, you’ve come to the wrong place.

Here is our Premier League disappointment XI, with Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal and Spurs all represented.

GK: Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa)
There were still ‘best in the world’ shouts before the season started, but Martinez has emphatically proved otherwise.

Six errors leading to a shot highlight the growing shakiness of the Argentina No.1, who more often than not cost his team rather than rescued them – though he still managed the latter a few times, admittedly.

He’s nowhere near the world’s best now. His final-day c*ck-up played a bigger part than Villa’s disallowed goal and could well be his final act as an Aston Villa player. Quoting the Mailbox isn’t standard practice, but we’ll make an exception for this timeline: ‘1) Bring attention to yourself that want to leave the club, the game before last game where need a result, 2) Change your agent during the lead up to the big game, 3) Get yourself sent off during the big game’.

RB: Rico Lewis (Manchester City)
Almost every Man City player has disappointed this season. Some did enough to haul them to third, but most went off the boil.

Lewis looked destined for greatness, but this has been a tricky year. With the stars around him struggling, Lewis has looked more like a vulnerable kid than the composed upstart we saw last season. From looking alarmingly comfortable in midfield to being out of his depth, and from solid to defensively frail – next season’s huge. A loan feels beneath him.

CB: Jean-Clair Todibo (West Ham)
Sir Jim Ratcliffe was willing to risk it all for this guy? For someone with such impeccable judgement, we are shocked that he wanted to spend a fortune on Todibo before UEFA slammed the door in his face.

Manchester United’s loss was supposed to be West Ham’s gain, but the French centre-back had a poor season in a wildly underperforming team.

Todibo played 27 league matches and his loan from Nice will become permanent in the summer for over £30million, for West Ham’s sins. Having officially splashed the cash, the Hammers will be desperate to see some improvement, especially when it comes to one-on-one defending as demonstrated at Ipswich on Sunday.

CB: Radu Dragusin (Tottenham Hotspur)
There had to be some Spurs representation. They did finish 17th, after all. Bloody seventeenth. Still sounds ridiculous.

Dragusin’s poor season has the caveat that he’s been out with an ACL injury since January, but before that, he was he all over the shop. He just seems to be a bad fit for Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs, but he came into the season off a really impressive Euro 2024 which adds to the disappointment.

Being surpassed by Kevin Danso hasn’t helped – especially when the January signing is still no more than a back-up centre-back, but far more the right kind of back-up centre-back.

Dishonourable mentions: Igor Julio, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Lewis Dunk and Leny Yoro.

LB: Leif Davis (Ipswich Town)
There were England call-up shouts for this guy when him and Ipswich were in the Championship. They’re going back down and we are not convinced Davis will be a transfer target for any Premier League club this summer.

The Alfie Doughty comparisons were thrown around early, but Davis never came close. Just two assists – despite taking set-pieces all year – isn’t good enough. We expected more from him, and naively, Ipswich.

Dishonourable mentions: Ian Maatsen and Oleksandr Zinchenko.

CM: Kalvin Phillips (Ipswich Town)
We have no idea where poor Kalvin Phillips goes from here. Leeds United, probably. But will they even want their old fan favourite after a miserable campaign at another newly-promoted team? We’d be surprised, but there’s no future for him at Man City.

The player who bossed games for Leeds and England looks long gone. Now 29, this summer is career-defining. He played just 30 minutes across Ipswich’s final nine league games.

CM: Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United)
After a breakout season and a starring role at Euro 2024, Mainoo was meant to take the next step.

United’s struggles aren’t on him, but we still expected more from someone who seemed ready to assume the role of a team leader. He’s not being written off – far from it – but that next step might not be in Manchester. Defeat in the Europa League final could force the club’s hand financially.

Worryingly, he already looks a bit leggy. He’s dropped down Ruben Amorim’s pecking order, despite seemingly fitting the 3-4-3 like a glove.

Dishonourable mentions: Mats Wieffer, Carlos Soler, Guido Rodriguez, Edson Alvarez, Ilkay Gundogan and Lucas Paqueta.

RW: Phil Foden (Manchester City)
From Premier League Player of the Season to Phlop of the Season.

Problems in his personal life have contributed to a bitterly disappointing year, but we all know there is a world-class player in there. Getting adequate rest to recover physically and mentally will go a long way to Foden coming Back Stronger in 2025/26.

Foden only scored or assisted in six games all season, with a purple patch in January (six goals, one assist in four games) followed by a costly mistake against Arsenal and a complete fade-out. The 24-year-old didn’t score or assist from February onwards.

AM: Martin Odegaard (Arsenal)
The Arsenal captain fell from the highest high from every attacking midfielder in the Premier League, but not necessarily to the lowest low. Christopher Nkunku, Fabio Carvalho, Joshua Zirkzee and Lucas Paqueta arguably reached deeper depths of despair.

Odegaard has been the heartbeat of this Arsenal team since 2021/22 but his performances undoubtedly dipped this campaign. The ankle injury he suffered in September clearly hindered him for the rest of the campaign as his influence waned.

The Norwegian recorded assists in five of Arsenal’s last six Premier League matches but all they did was paper over the cracks, especially in the home defeat to Bournemouth.

LW: Heung-min Son (Tottenham Hotspur)
Yes, Son recorded 17 goal involvements in 30 league games. But if you actually watched him…

Those passable numbers are a testament to the player he is/was but he’s become slow, ponderous, and seemingly unsure of himself. He used to be the exact opposite: exciting and vibrant. He’s lost half a yard in the legs and in his head.

Dishonourable mentions: Raheem Sterling and Federico Chiesa.

ST: Rasmus Hojlund (Manchester United)
A shaky debut season was to be expected, especially when there was an outstanding purple patch before an unfortunate injury. But showing no signs of improvement, only regression, has left the club’s supporters fearing they’ve signed a dud.

He only scored four goals across the entire Premier League campaign. That’s the same number of goal involvements as Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson. Not only has Hojlund shown a lack of conviction in front of goal, but his overall play has been very poor.

By almost every metric, he ranks near the bottom for Premier League strikers: take-ons, penalty-box touches, passes, aerials, shots, assists… the lot. Even his xG per 90 (0.33) is worrying for a main striker.

Dishonourable mention: Evan Ferguson. It’s arguable that as a disappointment, Ferguson blows Hojlund out of the water. The latter being worse than last season was half-expected, but people were hyping Ferguson all the way to the moon.

Manager: Ruben Amorim (Manchester United)
Seven wins, six draws, 14 defeats. A 15th-place finish. Knocked out in the Carabao Cup quarters and FA Cup last 16, and defeated in the Europa League final. Miserable.

Yes, it’s not his squad. Yes, it’s a ‘transition’. But come on. This is a team assembled for over £700m, with the second-highest wage bill in the league. They shouldn’t be this bad.

Amorim arrived with real pedigree – having just spanked City in the Champions League – but after seven months in charge, his credentials look shaky.