Seven Premier League players facing make-or-break 2026-27 seasons, including £63.5m Arsenal star

The 2026-27 English top-flight run kicked disconnected connected August 21, with defending champions Arsenal brushing speech recently promoted Coventry City 3-0 astatine the Emirates arsenic Mikel Arteta looks to pb the Gunners to a archetypal palmy Premier League rubric defence.

There is plentifulness of ambition elsewhere too, with each nine carrying its ain unfinished concern into the caller campaign, whether that means gathering connected a breakthrough play oregon putting a disappointing 1 down them, and the aforesaid applies to individuals.

Among them are players with thing to prove, either due to the fact that of a hard spell astatine their existent club, a hefty transportation interest that has not brought the expected return, or, successful immoderate cases, both.

With that successful mind, Sports Mole looks astatine 7 Premier League players nether unit heading into 2026-27, with each 7 needing a beardown run for precise antithetic reasons.

Dominic Solanke (Tottenham)

Dominic Solanke joined Tottenham successful August 2024 for a club-record £65m, arriving a twelvemonth aft Harry Kane's departure and carrying the anticipation of becoming Spurs' main antheral successful attack.

That has not rather happened, contempt Solanke contributing straight to 24 goals successful 45 appearances crossed each competitions during his archetypal play successful northbound London, earlier fittingness problems disrupted his 2nd campaign.

The 28-year-old striker featured lone 20 times for Spurs successful 2025-26 owed to recurring ankle and thigh problems, portion his pre-season has offered small encouragement aft different fittingness interest surfaced during the club's circuit of Australia.

With Omar Marmoush reportedly closing successful connected a determination to northbound London, Solanke's spot arsenic the first-choice fig 9 looks little unafraid than it has astatine immoderate constituent since his arrival, and different disrupted play would permission him with plentifulness to prove.

Alejandro Garnacho (Aston Villa)

Alejandro Garnacho's past 18 months person been a hard play for a subordinate who erstwhile looked destined to go a mainstay astatine Manchester United, with his fallout with then-manager Ruben Amorim yet starring to a £40m determination to Chelsea successful August 2025.

The power to Stamford Bridge was expected to connection a caller start, but Garnacho struggled to marque the desired impact, starting lone 22 of his 43 appearances and scoring conscionable erstwhile successful the Premier League among his 8 goals crossed each competitions.

Xabi Alonso's accomplishment arsenic caput manager pushed the Argentine guardant further down the pecking order, and helium was yet allowed to miss pre-season portion a determination distant from westbound London was arranged.

That determination took him to Aston Villa connected loan, with a conditional work to bargain worthy astir £42.5m, leaving Garnacho with a large play up arsenic helium tries to person Unai Emery that helium is worthy keeping permanently.

Mykhaylo Mudryk (Chelsea)

Mykhailo Mudryk joined Chelsea from Shakhtar Donetsk successful January 2023 for a interest reported anyplace betwixt £62m and £89m, arriving with a estimation arsenic 1 of the astir breathtaking young players successful Europe.

The Ukrainian has scored lone 10 goals successful 73 appearances for the West London club, a instrumentality good abbreviated of what the Blues would person expected from specified a sizeable investment.

Mudryk tested affirmative for a banned substance successful December 2024 and faced a lengthy suspension that could person kept him retired of shot until December 2028.

Cleared successful July 2026 aft a colony with the FA and WADA that matched the clip helium had already served, Mudryk tin present instrumentality to Chelsea's squad, but helium faces the hard task of forcing his mode into Alonso's plans aft specified a agelong absence.

Viktor Gyokeres (Arsenal)

Viktor Gyokeres joined Arsenal from Sporting CP past summertime for an archetypal £55m that could emergence to £63.7m, arriving aft scoring 97 goals successful 102 games for the Portuguese champions.

The Swede was brought successful to assistance lick Arsenal's long-running problems successful beforehand of goal, and his archetypal play successful northbound London produced a respectable 21 goals successful 55 appearances.

There were inactive questions implicit his spot successful the team, though, with Gyokeres incapable to afloat found himself arsenic the first-choice fig 9 arsenic Kai Havertz was preferred successful the Community Shield triumph implicit Manchester City and the opening-day triumph against Coventry.

Arsenal person adjacent been reported to beryllium considering Gyokeres arsenic portion of a imaginable swap woody for Atletico Madrid's Julian Alvarez, leaving the striker with plentifulness to beryllium if helium is to found himself arsenic a semipermanent solution astatine the Emirates.

Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)

Marcus Rashford is backmost astatine Manchester United aft 18 months distant from Old Trafford, pursuing his fallout with Ruben Amorim successful aboriginal 2025.

The Manchester-born attacker initially joined Aston Villa connected indebtedness earlier enjoying a palmy spell astatine Barcelona, wherever helium scored 14 goals and provided 15 assists successful each competitions arsenic the Catalan giants won La Liga.

Barcelona decided against triggering their reported £26m enactment to bargain him permanently, alternatively investing successful Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi.

Rashford has present returned to Old Trafford nether Michael Carrick, who has handed him the fig 14 shirt, and the guardant could hardly person a bigger accidental to enactment the past 18 months down him and rebuild his Man United career.

Phil Foden (Manchester City)

Phil Foden's diminution from his 2023-24 highest has been noticeable, having won the PFA, FWA and Premier League Player of the Season awards aft scoring 27 goals successful each competitions during that campaign.

The 2 seasons since person been acold little productive, opening with a quiescent Euro 2024 and followed by a gradual autumn down the pecking bid astatine Manchester City that yet saw him near retired of Thomas Tuchel's World Cup squad.

Enzo Maresca has replaced Pep Guardiola successful the City dugout and has made getting Foden backmost to his champion 1 of his priorities, with the manager praising the attacker's cognition and enactment complaint during pre-season.

Foden was inactive substituted aft an hr of the Community Shield decision to Arsenal, however, meaning determination is plentifulness riding connected the 26-year-old rediscovering the signifier that erstwhile made him 1 of the Premier League's champion players.

Florian Wirtz (Liverpool)

Florian Wirtz's determination to Liverpool for a then-British-record £116.5m successful the summertime of 2025 came with immense expectations aft everything helium had achieved astatine Bayer Leverkusen.

Wirtz produced 57 goals and 65 assists successful 197 appearances for Leverkusen, including during their unbeaten Bundesliga title-winning campaign, but his archetypal play successful England brought lone 5 goals and 4 assists successful the Premier League for the Merseyside club.

There has besides been plentifulness of alteration astir the German midfielder, with Arne Slot leaving contempt securing Champions League qualification and Andoni Iraola arriving from Bournemouth to instrumentality complaint astatine Anfield.

A much encouraging pre-season, including respective goals successful friendlies, has offered immoderate anticipation that a caller manager and Mohamed Salah's departure could springiness Wirtz a bigger relation and let him to amusement wherefore Liverpool were prepared to wage specified a immense interest for him.