An XI of the best players to be relegated from the Premier League: Who could join in 2025-26? | OneFootball

The Premier League‘s white-hot relegation battle looks set to see some excellent footballers go down this season.

From Elliot Anderson and Morgan Gibbs-White at Nottingham Forest, Anton Stach and Dominic Calvert-Lewin at Leeds, Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero at Tottenham and Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville, we’re not sure there’s ever been this many quality footballers involved in a relegation dogfight.

But plenty of big names have suffered relegation from the Premier League in the past. We’ve compiled an XI of the best of them to have an unwanted drop added to their CV.

GK: Jordan Pickford

There were few positives for Sunderland fans in the 2016-17 season as they finished rock bottom and 16 points from safety, but the emergence of one of their own – Jordan Pickford – was a highlight.

Initially second choice to Vito Mannone, Pickford was promoted to the first team after an injury to his colleague and never gave up the No.1 spot.

He ended the year with the PFA Young Player of the Year award and although he was unable to save his boyhood club from the drop, his form was good enough for Everton to purchase him for £25m, the third-highest fee for a keeper at the time.

LB: Andy Robertson

Relegated to Champions League winner is not a common path but Andy Robertson made that leap in the summer of 2017.

Considering the club signed Mo Salah and Dominic Solanke, it is fair to say Robertson was a more low-key transfer but he would go on to be an integral part of Jurgen Klopp’s team and part of arguably the best full-back partnership in Premier League history.

Not bad for £10million.

CB: Nathan Ake

Now a part of the Manchester City winning machine, Ake established himself as a Premier League-quality defender whilst at Bournemouth.

He won Players’ and Fans’ Player of the Year in his first season and a hamstring injury that kept him out for six games was a pivotal reason why the Cherries were relegated in the 2019-2020 season.

Ake, though, would stay in the league as City bought him for £41million.

CB: Jonny Evans

Sir Alex Ferguson has previously stated his dismay at United’s decision to sell Jonny Evans but the Manchester side’s loss was West Brom’s gain with the Northern Irishman far better than playing for a team in a relegation scrap.

Evans did his best but West Brom went down in 2018 and he joined Leicester for £3.5million.

RB: Glen Johnson

The 2002-03 West Ham squad is often touted as the best team to go down and it’s easy to see why.

As we will come on to, their forward line possessed a lot of talent but even their defence was not lacking for good players.

Of those, Johnson was the pick of the bunch and would go on to play for Liverpool and Chelsea in his career.

CM: Roy Keane

Keane may have only been 21 when Forest went down but he was still a standout performer and clearly one destined for the top.

He clashed with Brian Clough at times but still named him as the best manager he had ever played for and come the inaugural Premier League season, he was on the radar of plenty of top clubs.

Keane, never one to be taken advantage of, used that interest to his benefit. When Forest were facing the drop, he negotiated a new contract with a relegation clause, an aspect that saw him labelled a “greedy child” by Clough.

It would prove to be a good move. Forest did go down, and Keane joined Manchester United for a British transfer record fee of £3.75million.

CM: Scott Parker

As we will see later, West Ham have a history of having a squad arguably too good for the drop, but the Hammers finishing bottom in the 2010-11 season was a particularly bad example of self-destruction.

They dropped 22 points from winning positions, but one man not to blame for their demise was current Burnley boss Parker.

His midfield performances earned him the FWA Footballer of the Year award and a move to Tottenham.

CAM: Juninho Paulista

Middlesbrough pulled off one of the best transfer coups of all time in 1995 when they somehow beat several top European clubs to the signature of highly-rated Brazilian prospect Juninho.

He became an instant fan favourite. If there was one player who fits the bill of too good to go down, it’s him.

In the year Boro went down, he scored 12 goals and looked to have saved the Teesside club until a three-point deduction dropped them down to 19th.

For his effort, he won Premier League Player of the Year and finished runner-up to Gianfranco Zola for the FWA Player of the Year award.

He left to join Atletico Madrid but would return on loan in 1999 before rejoining permanently in 2002.

LW: Jamie Vardy

Jamie Vardy has earned a reputation as one of the best strikers Leicester have ever had, but just three goals in the 2022-23 season was a big part of why a talented Foxes team somehow went down.

Only Michael Owen has scored more Premier League goals than him and been relegated.

ST: Paolo Di Canio

Di Canio is up there with Moore and Brooking for West Ham legends but he was also part of the squad that went down back in 2003.

Still the club’s best player, he fell out with manager Glenn Roeder so was dropped, a move that some fans felt prompted the club’s relegation. He returned to the team when Roeder left his post due to a brain tumour and scored the winner against Chelsea in the penultimate game of the year.

In the final game, he scored an 89th-minute equaliser away at Birmingham but it wasn’t enough and the Hammers were relegated.

Special mention to Jermaine Defoe and Les Ferdinand who were also in that squad that somehow went down.

RW: Joe Cole

Another member of that 2003 West Ham squad was a young Joe Cole, who came through the Hammers youth academy.

Remarkably, Roeder gave Cole the captain’s armband at the age of just 21, and he picked up the club’s player of the year award before moving to Chelsea for £6.6m.