Sunderland and Palace humble Big Six with their 2026 World Cup participants | OneFootball

You’ll enjoy this. What we’ve done here is take a simple idea, and then make it complicated.

The simple idea was this: now we know all the World Cup squads, how many players from each Premier League club are off to the tournament?

See? Piece of p*ss. Except… no. Because what about players who go out of contract halfway through the tournament? What about players returning from loans? What about players who’ve been out on loan.

What we decided to do, and hours later regretted, was answer that initial question but from the perspective of next season.

Our initial logic was, we maintain, sound. Of course next season is the one that matters for that question. And if you disagree with that, do you really want us to stick Burnley, West Ham and Wolves in here? Of course you don’t. So deep down you agree with us.

So that’s what we’ve done. These are the players from next season’s Premier League squads who are going to the World Cup.

Have we had to make some subjective calls? Absolutely yes. We can just about stand by all of them. We think.

Our system is this: all loan players are now back with their parent club, unless there’s a clear option or obligation that has been or definitely will be triggered. Relatively straightforward here, although with the odd unavoidable Marcus Rashford-shaped mess.

Out-of-contract players we’ve treated more case by case, but essentially it amounts to: did they have a big farewell at the end of the season? If they’re obviously definitely leaving, we’ve not included them. If, however, there’s reasonable doubt and neither club nor player has made it clear it’s over, we’ve erred on the side of keeping them in.

In essence, using Merseyside for our examples: Idrissa Gueye is a yes, Mo Salah is a no.

Any other confirmed departures – the Anthony Gordons of this world – are treated as the confirmed departures they are, even if they don’t technically go through until halfway through the tournament.

Enjoy.

Coventry – 2

Haji Wright (USA), Brandon Thomas-Asante (Ghana).

Not a bad year for these two, heading off for the World Cup – in Wright’s case, a home World Cup – on the back of a dominant Championship-winning season.

Hull City – 2

Liam Millar (Canada), Ivor Pandur (Croatia).

Amir Hadziahmetovic is also involved for Bosnia, but no word yet on what his future holds after joining Hull for their promotion season on loan from Besiktas.

Ipswich – 2

Ali Al-Hamadi (Iraq), George Hirst (Scotland).

Ali Al-Hamadi made history as the first Iraq player to play in the Premier League two years ago. How many more chances he’ll get to do so with the Tractor Boys after spending last season on loan with Luton in League One remains to be seen.

Leeds – 4

Brenden Aaronson (USA), Ao Tanaka (Japan), Noah Okafor (Switzerland), Gabriel Gudmundsson (Sweden).

We do think Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s a bit unlucky not to be in a squad that includes Ivan Toney.

Everton – 4

Idrissa Gueye (Senegal), Jordan Pickford (England), Iliman Ndiaye (Senegal), Nathan Patterson (Scotland).

Idrissa Gueye represents one of the thornier tests of our ‘next season’s squad’ rules here. He’s out of contract this summer. He didn’t quite make enough appearances to trigger an automatic one-year extension to his deal. But club and player remain keen to sort something out. Certainly we haven’t had the sort of farewell in evidence across the city for your Salahs, your Konates, your Robertsons.

So we’re keeping him in, for now.

Brentford – 4

Jordan Henderson (England), Kristoffer Ajer (Norway), Aaron Hickey (Scotland), Igor Thiago (Brazil).

Brentford there contributing more players to the England squad than Liverpool did. And the same number to the Brazil squad.

Nottingham Forest – 4

Chris Wood (New Zealand), Ibrahim Sangare (Ivory Coast), Dan Ndoye (Switzerland), Elliot Anderson (England).

We’ve made a judgement call on Angus Gunn and that judgement call is that his 45 minutes of action throughout his one-year contract at Nottingham Forest won’t get him another one. Unless he has one heck of a World Cup, we suppose.

Fulham – 6

Raul Jimenez (Mexico), Sander Berge (Norway), Timothy Castagne (Belgium), Antonee Robinson (USA), Oscar Bobb (Norway), Issa Diop (Morocco).

Two of the three co-hosts carry Craven Cottage representation with them.

Bournemouth – 6

Ryan Christie (Scotland), Tyler Adams (USA), Ben Gannon-Doak (Scotland), Justin Kluivert (Netherlands), Alex Paulsen (New Zealand), Rayan (Brazil).

Just a brilliant time to be alive when Brazil are calling up players from Bournemouth. And also when New Zealand are picking back-up goalkeepers who’ve spent the year on loan in Poland. Both good things.

Newcastle – 7

Bruno Guimaraes (Brazil), Yoane Wissa (DR Congo), Anthony Elanga (Sweden), Nick Woltemade (Germany), Dan Burn (England), Malick Thiaw (Germany), Tino Livramento (England).

Next season’s squad as it stands, remember, so no Anthony Gordon here.

Liverpool – 8

Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands), Alisson (Brazil), Wataru Endo (Japan), Alexander Isak (Sweden), Cody Gakpo (Netherlands), Alexis Mac Allister (Argentina), Florian Wirtz (Germany), Ryan Gravenberch (Netherlands).

Mo Salah, Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate are all off the list, with their departures from Liverpool at the end of their contracts all having been effectively confirmed by the club. Liverpool also have no player in an England World Cup squad for the first time since 1986.

Brighton – 8

Ferdi Kadioglu (Turkey), Bart Verbruggen (Netherlands), Diego Gomez (Paraguay), Yasin Ayari (Sweden), Pascal Gross (Germany), Maxim De Cuyper (Belgium), Mats Weiffer (Netherlands), Jan Paul van Hecke (Netherlands).

A real Brighton flavour to that Dutch squad.

Tottenham – 9

Rodrigo Bentancur (Uruguay), Cristian Romero (Argentina), Pape Sarr (Senegal), Kevin Danso (Austria), Micky van de Ven (Netherlands), Pedro Porro (Spain), Lucas Bergvall (Sweden), Djed Spence (England), Luka Vuskovic (Croatia).

The injury crisis that has blighted Spurs in the last two years continues to make its presence felt at the World Cup, with Mohammed Kudus (Ghana), Dejan Kulusevski (Sweden) and Xavi Simons (Netherlands) all absolute certainties to have made their respective squads if fit.

Guglielmo Vicario and Antonin Kinsky would also have been in contention but for injury, with Vicario yet to play since a hernia operation and Kinsky opting to have surgery himself this summer in readiness for next season rather than make himself available for the Czech World Cup squad.

Perhaps the most interesting name on this list, though, is Croatian teenager Luka Vuskovic, who made the Bundesliga team of the season during a relegation battle while on loan with Hamburg and may thus have outgrown Spurs without ever playing a single competitive game for them. Barcelona, PSG and Bayern Munich are among those reportedly interested in his services, and we don’t think any of them are thinking of just borrowing him for a year.

Chelsea – 10

Moises Caicedo (Ecuador), Enzo Fernandez (Argentina), Nicolas Jackson (Senegal), Pedro Neto (Portugal), Marc Cucurella (Spain), Reece James (England), Malu Gusto (France), Jorrel Hato (Netherlands), Mamadou Sarr (Senegal), Mike Penders (Belgium)

The most pointless club in this whole exercise, of course. This list features two players returning from loan who are unlikely to figure for Chelsea next season either in Nicolas Jackson and Mike Penders, while what the future holds for Enzo Fernandez and possibly others on this list, who knows.

Conspicuous absences from the above names include Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer.

Aston Villa – 10

John McGinn (Scotland), Youri Tielemans (Belgium), Victor Lindelof (Sweden), Emi Martinez (Argentina), Evann Guessand (Ivory Coast), Lucas Digne (France), Amadou Onana (Belgium), Ollie Watkins (England), Ezri Konsa (England), Morgan Rogers (England).

Emi Martinez sets out to defend the World Cup title after his memorable late save in the final four years ago. A trio of Lions look to add England World Cup glory to Europa League success.

Evann Guessand goes here because, while Palace remain interested in making his loan deal permanent, they have missed the deadline to exercise the option in his loan deal. Fair’s fair, that makes him Villa’s player once more until and unless we hear otherwise.

Sunderland – 11

Granit Xhaka (Switzerland), Omar Alderete (Paraguay), Habib Diarra (Senegal), Noah Sadiki (DR Congo), Arthur Masuaku (DR Congo), Simon Adingra (Ivory Coast), Nilson Angulo (Ecuador), Brian Brobbey (Netherlands), Chemsdine Talbi (Morocco), Wilson Isidor (Haiti), Robin Roefs (Netherlands).

Impressive numbers anyway, even if bolstered slightly mischievously by Masuaku and Adingra, both of whom spent the second half of last season in France but are due back at Sunderland after the World Cup and thus technically have to go in our list.

We’re very happy with who these rules are propelling towards the top of this list.

Crystal Palace – 11

Ismaila Sarr (Senegal), Jefferson Lerma (Colombia), Daichi Kamada (Japan), Daniel Munoz (Colombia), Chris Richards (USA), Jorgen Strand Larsen (Norway), Yeremy Pino (Spain), Dean Henderson (England), Chadi Riad (Morocco), Jean-Philippe Mateta (France), Maxence Lacroix (France).

The managerial uncertainty means doubts over the out-of-contract players here. Palace are likely to trigger a one-year option on Jefferson Lerma’s deal, and are reportedly still in talks to extend Daichi Kamada’s stay in London despite his contract now being at an end.

We’re happy enough it’s fair to include them given active attempts from Palace to keep them at the club, and not just because it makes Palace the fourth most represented Premier League club this summer.

And before you accuse of massaging the stats to make it so, we could have included Evann Guessand if we really wanted to push our luck, but we’ve grumpily put him back at Villa. Do we wish Palace had activated their option to buy him before it expired this week? We prefer not to speak.

Manchester United – 12

Bruno Fernandes (Portugal), Marcus Rashford (England), Noussair Mazraoui (Morocco), Manuel Ugarte (Uruguay), Diogo Dalot (Portugal), Lisandro Martinez (Argentina), Matheus Cunha (Brazil), Amad Diallo (Ivory Coast), Kobbie Mainoo (England), Altay Bayindir (Turkey), Senne Lammens (Belgium), Tyler Fletcher (Scotland).

Casemiro another big name not to be included due to the harsh but we think fair terms of engagement when it comes to the out-of-contract lads.

No, we’re not happy about Marcus Rashford being in there either. But with a return to Barcelona seemingly off the cards, there’s little we can do about it until something else happens.

Arsenal – 16

Declan Rice (England), Martin Odegaard (Norway), Kai Havertz (Germany), Piero Hincapie (Ecuador), Leandro Trossard (Belgium), Bukayo Saka (England), Mikel Merino (Spain), Viktor Gyokeres (Swden), William Saliba (France), Martin Zubimendi (Spain), Jurrien Timber (Netherlands), Gabriel Martinelli (Brazil), Gabriel Magalhaes (Brazil), Eberechi Eze (England), David Raya (Spain), Noni Madueke (England).

After a long and ultimately successful season, plenty of Gunners will have to go again after a short break for countries with eyes on the big prize, with Brazil, Spain and England all picking squads containing multiple Arsenal stars.

Manchester City – 17

Mateo Kovacic (Croatia), Ruben Dias (Portugal), Rodri (Spain), Nathan Ake (Netherlands), Erling Haaland (Norway), Omar Marmoush (Egypt), Josko Gvardiol (Croatia), Jeremy Doku (Belgium), Antoine Semenyo (Ghana), Tijjani Reijnders (Netherlands), Marc Guehi (England), Rayan Ait-Nouri (Algeria), Abdukodir Khusanov (Uzbekistan), Matheus Nunes (Portugal), Rayan Cherki (France), Nico O’Reilly (England), James Trafford (England).

The departing John Stones and Bernardo Silva are of course also involved with England and Portugal respectively, boasting almost 200 international caps between them as their highly-decorated Manchester City careers come to a close.