Ballard, Stach to Man Utd: Ten Premier League newbies poised for pillaging | OneFootball

With Manchester City throwing their Premier League weight around to sign Antoine Semenyo from Bournemouth and to hijack Liverpool’s move for Marc Guehi to plunge Crystal Palace deeper into a pit of despair, the inevitable pillaging of so-called lesser top flight clubs by the big boys has once again been brought into sharp focus this January.

At least – as is the case with Adam Wharton and Elliot Anderson as they continue to be heavily linked with the exit ramps at Palace and Nottingham Forest respectively – fans of their clubs have been able to enjoy their talents for more than one season.

Not like these ten newbies – all of whom are either playing their first top-flight campaign or signed for a new club in the summer – should they be poached by a Premier League giant at the end of the season, as we would suggest is a likely outcome if they continue to impress as they have done so far.

Who will be the plunderers? We’ve predicted them too.

Robin Roefs: Sunderland to Newcastle

“The majority of Sunderland fans will hate me for the rest of my life,” Jack Colback – the last player to swap Sunderland for Newcastle in 2014 – acknowledged before ensuring that would be the case with some “thanks for your support” but “this is a dream move” rage-baiting sprinkles.

Roefs has been the second-best goalkeeper in the Premier League in his debut season and though a tad smaller than Nick Pope – 6ft3 to his 6ft5 – is ten years his junior, without the baggage of at least two seasons of belief among supporters that he’s not quite good enough.

Alex Jimenez: Bournemouth to Manchester United

Has anyone ever really been convinced by Diogo Dalot? He’s the finest footballer around, as in, he’s fine.

It doesn’t hurt Jimenez’s chances of a move to Old Trafford that he was excellent against them in that mad 4-4 draw and after a brief bedding-in period looks to be really finding his groove in the Premier League, getting off the mark with a brilliant goal against Liverpool on Saturday.

Absolutely nailed on to to make a £50m move in the summer of 2027, so probably worth striking before the iron is too hot.

Pep Guardiola insisting he has “a thousand other priorities” before considering long throws as a tactic before signing arguably the face of the Premier League-wide campaign to bring it back into fashion would be lovely.

We suspect Guardiola’s interest is more based upon Kayode’s almost unrivalled ability to dribble past opponents from right-back, along with his aerial ability, and his signing would bring about the end of the Matheus Nunes experiment, which has gone on for far too long.

Adrien Truffert: Bournemouth to Liverpool

If at first you don’t succeed, buy another left-back from Bournemouth.

Thierno Barry: Everton to Chelsea

It feels like Barry has taught us all a lesson in patience this season after failing to score in any of his first 14 appearances following his £27m move from Villarreal before finally finding the net against Nottingham Forest in December and scoring four in his last five.

There’s simply no way Chelsea don’t view this month-long purple patch as evidence that he will score 40 goals per season for the rest of time.

Dan Ballard: Sunderland to Manchester United

As Michael Carrick battles to get his INEOS bosses to offer Harry Maguire a new contract after his dominant displays against Manchester City and Arsenal, we wonder if they could reach something of a compromise by signing someone no one is (yet) calling The New Harry Maguire, quite possibly as that moniker may not be taken in the positive way it is meant by some.

Nordi Mukiele: Sunderland to Arsenal

A right-back-cum-centre-back you say? Yes please.

Mateus Fernandes: West Ham to Tottenham

He scored a stunning goal in victory over Sunderland last time out and is doing a remarkable job of raising his stock despite being on course for consecutive Premier League relegations having joined West Ham from Southampton in the summer. A not-so-secret £20m relegation clause has seen him linked with Real Madrid, but why not go for three relegations in three seasons?

A teenager scoring seven Premier League goals at a rate of just over one every 100 minutes for someone other than Chelsea is something the BlueCo childminders can’t and won’t stand for.