The best ten Tottenham, West Ham relegation candidates reassigned to Premier League suitors | OneFootball

Either West Ham or Tottenham fans will be plunged into despair on Sunday evening as their Premier League status hinges on their respective results against Leeds (H) and Everton (H) on the final day of the season.

As will the futures of these ten players, who – unlike the teams they play for – will be genuinely too good for the Championship.

Other players will also depart either because their clubs are sick of them or they’re sick of their employers, but these guys are for our money the best – or at least most ripe for plucking by Premier League suitors.

Jarrod Bowen (West Ham) – Liverpool

We can almost hear the eye-rolls from Liverpool fans asking “to replace Mohamed Salah? Really?!”. And we get that Bowen wouldn’t be the most exciting of signings in a ‘you know what you’re gonna get’ sense, but when that’s someone who’s hit double figures for goals in five of his six full seasons for West actual Ham that’s got to be seen as a positive.

A further exodus of experience from Anfield this summer means his captaincy of West Ham isn’t to be sniffed at; nor is his work rate on the right flank, which will come as blessed relief for Conor Bradley, Jeremie Frimpong or whichever other poor sap has played behind “selfish” Salah.

El Hadji Malick Diouf (West Ham) – Manchester United

There’s a fair case to be made for Diouf being the best left-back in the Premier League this season. Lucas Digne (6) is the only defender to have registered more assists in the top flight this season and if Michael Carrick is of a mind to persist with narrow forwards behind a central striker next season, then having Diouf bombing on to provide width makes a lot of sense.

Mateus Fernandes (West Ham) – Manchester United

He’s frequently looked like the only West Ham midfielder able to control and pass a ball with any regularity, and for a while we couldn’t quite work out whether we were being duped into thinking Fernandes is a huge talent with a very bright future because of the comparison with his bang-average teammates.

It’s quite the feat to fail upwards twice after being relegated with Southampton last season but early interest from Real Madrid suggested it wasn’t an illusion. The 21-year-old’s performances have gone up a level in recent weeks to a) help West Ham remain in the fight to avoid relegation and b) catch the eye of further high-profile suitors.

Including Manchester United, whose captain is pushing for his compatriot and namesake to join him at Old Trafford to raise immediate questions that we want answered as to whether a Fernandes-Kobbie Mainoo pivot would have the necessary steel in the Premier League.

Crysencio Summerville (West Ham) – Tottenham

A purple patch which saw Summerville’s goals help West Ham to wins over Tottenham, Sunderland, Chelsea and Fulham to keep Premier League survival hopes alive came to an end with an injury in March. But the blistering pace and impressive dribbling skills he’s displayed will be enough to tempt a perhaps deluded Prem boss into believing they can harness those abilities to produce more consistent results next season.

A report last month claimed Tottenham have their eye on Summerville as Roberto De Zerbi looks to bolster his terribly toothless attack.

Micky van de Ven (Tottenham) – Liverpool

Sometimes the most obvious choice is also the best and a Daniel Levy-less Tottenham are unlikely to be holding out for £100m bids in the Championship.

Cristian Romero (Tottenham) – Chelsea

Enzo Fernandez has supposedly asked the Chelsea bosses to sign his compatriot in talks over his future at Stamford Bridge.

We have no doubt that Romero would be more than happy to f*** Tottenham off for their bitter rivals. While we’re not so sure Chelsea’s apparent sudden acknowledgement of the need for experience should come at the cost of their already horrible disciplinary record deteriorating further, BlueCo’s ability to make terrible transfer decisions should never be questioned.

Lucas Bergvall (Tottenham) – Aston Villa

Everyone seems fairly convinced Bergvall is a generational talent and after Aston Villa joined Chelsea in making a January approach, a return for his services in the summer makes a lot of sense when Harvey Elliott crawls back to Liverpool as Unai Emery looks to build a squad for Champions League football and maybe even a Premier League challenge.

Conor Gallagher (Tottenham) – Crystal Palace

Chelsea will have got precisely what they wanted from their double-agent before backtracking on their promise to bring Gallagher home once he completes his circuitous mission to get Tottenham relegated. He was very, very good at Selhurst Park and Crystal Palace may need a midfielder should Adam Wharton get poached this summer.

Dejan Kulusevski (Tottenham) – Manchester City

“Everything,” Pep Guardiola once said when asked what he likes about Kulusevski and while he won’t be around pushing for his transfer this summer, Enzo Maresca will need a replacement for Bernardo Silva; Kulusevski has a not dissimilar utility playmaker vibe to him.

Mohammed Kudus (Tottenham) – Liverpool

His agent supposedly told Liverpool that Kudus was willing to reduce his wage demands to get his move to Anfield amid interest from Tottenham last summer. “He’ll take anything, please, for the love of God,” he might have said.

The long-term injury and a setback when it looked like he might return before the end of the season will be a concern but the way in which Kudus carried the Spurs attack at the start of the campaign, when they won four and lost just one of their opening seven games and were third in the league, will have endeared him to big-club suitors.