Premier League Retained Lists: Clubs Secure Core Talent for 2025/26
The Premier League’s retained lists rarely make headlines, but they always tell a story. For 2025/26, that story is one of clubs doubling down on core talent, protecting assets and quietly shaping the next phase of English football.
Arsenal lock in a title-ready spine
Arsenal’s list reads like a declaration of intent.
Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice, William Saliba and Gabriel all remain in place, the spine that has carried them into contention now firmly under contract. Add Kai Havertz, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli (Teodoro Martinelli Silva, Gabriel) to that attacking mix, and the picture is clear: this is a squad built to compete now, not in three years.
The club also protect its future. Ethan Nwaneri, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Charles Sagoe Jr stay on the books, while scholars such as Gabriel Sebastian Arteta Bernal and Oluwatoyosi Joshua Adewale Ogunnaike receive offers. Arsenal are not just keeping a first team; they are ring‑fencing an entire era.
Manchester City keep the machine humming
At Manchester City, continuity remains king.
Erling Haaland, Phil Foden, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Jack Grealish all stay, as expected. But the detail beneath that headline is where City’s long-term thinking shows. Claudio Echeverri, Sávio, Sverre Nypan and a cluster of young talents such as Divine Mukasa and Joel Ndala are retained, ensuring the production line keeps feeding Pep Guardiola’s successor, whoever that may be.
City also hold onto key depth pieces: Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji, Matheus Nunes, Mateo Kovacic and Rico Lewis all remain. The champions don’t rip things up. They just keep adding layers.
Manchester United back their rebuild
Across town, Manchester United’s retained list underlines a squad in transition but no longer in freefall.
Kobbie Mainoo, Alejandro Garnacho (Garnacho Ferreyra, Alejandro), Marcus Rashford and Lisandro Martinez all stay as pillars of the new core. Newer arrivals such as Matthijs de Ligt, Benjamin Sesko, Manuel Ugarte and Bryan Mbeumo are locked in, signalling a clear stylistic shift: more intensity, more mobility, more aggression.
The club also hold onto a raft of academy and young first‑teamers – Shea Lacey, Amir Ibragimov, Harry Amass and others – with contracts and offers that suggest United finally have a pathway they trust. The message is simple: the rebuild will be built around youth, not instead of it.
Liverpool refresh while protecting their stars
Liverpool’s list shows a squad being carefully retooled rather than torn apart.
Virgil van Dijk, Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold’s defensive foil Joe Gomez, and creative hub Alexis Mac Allister are all retained. Around them, the club have committed to a new wave of attacking and creative talent: Cody Gakpo, Dominik Szoboszlai, Federico Chiesa and Florian Wirtz headline a group designed to keep Liverpool at the sharp end of the league.
Below that, names like Stefan Bajcetic, Ben Doak’s equivalent in Jayden Danns, Lewis Koumas, Trey Nyoni and Keyrol Figueroa (offered terms) show Liverpool continuing their habit of blending homegrown and imported youth. The succession plan is already written into the contracts.
Chelsea double down on potential
Chelsea’s retained list is exactly what you would expect from a club obsessed with tomorrow.
Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, Cole Palmer and Reece James remain the key pillars. Around them, the club hold an extraordinary number of young and emerging players: Andrey Santos, Kendry Paez, Estevao Willian, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Deivid Washington, Marc Guiu, Romeo Lavia and many more.
The sheer volume is striking. It is a squad built like an investment portfolio – high-risk, high-upside, and heavily diversified. Whether that finally turns into a coherent team is another question, but Chelsea have made one thing clear: they are not stepping away from their youth‑heavy model.
Tottenham keep their new core intact
Tottenham’s list is defined by one word: continuity.
James Maddison, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro all stay. So do Dejan Kulusevski, Rodrigo Bentancur and Pape Matar Sarr. The club also keep faith with Richarlison and Manor Solomon, while adding and retaining high‑ceiling talent in Mathys Tel, Mohammed Kudus and Xavi Simons.
Behind them, Dane Scarlett, Lucas Bergvall and a group of young defenders and goalkeepers are retained, giving Spurs options as they juggle domestic and European demands. This is a squad that finally looks built around a clear identity – technical, aggressive, front-foot football – and the retained list reflects that.
Newcastle and Aston Villa protect European ambitions
Newcastle United’s retained players underline their status as a club no longer content with mid-table.
Bruno Guimaraes, Sven Botman, Sandro Tonali and Nick Pope all stay. So do Harvey Barnes, Anthony Elanga, Lewis Miley and Tino Livramento. New attacking options such as Yoane Wissa and Nick Woltemade remain on the books, giving Eddie Howe the depth he lacked in his first Champions League campaign.
Aston Villa, meanwhile, keep the bulk of the side that has pushed into Europe. Ollie Watkins, John McGinn, Emiliano Martinez, Pau Torres and Youri Tielemans all remain, as does Leon Bailey. The club also retain Donyell Malen and a clutch of promising youngsters, including Louie Barry and Jaden Philogene-style wide talents in Lamare Bogarde and others, to sustain their high‑energy approach.
Both clubs have made a simple calculation: European football is hard to reach and even harder to keep. You don’t gamble with the core that got you there.
Traditional powers under pressure: Everton, West Ham and Wolves
At the other end of the table, the retained lists tell a story of clubs trying to stabilise.
Everton hold onto Jordan Pickford, Jarrad Branthwaite, Dwight McNeil and Vitalii Mykolenko, alongside new midfield additions such as Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Iliman Ndiaye. With financial constraints still looming, retaining assets like Branthwaite feels as significant as any signing.
West Ham United keep Jarrod Bowen, James Ward-Prowse, Tomas Soucek and Edson Alvarez, while adding or maintaining experience in Niclas Fullkrug, Jean-Clair Todibo and Kyle Walker-Peters. The squad looks heavier through the spine, built to withstand another gruelling season.
Wolverhampton Wanderers’ list shows a club intent on staying competitive despite regular turnover. Pedro Neto’s attacking successors are spread across names like Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, Hee-Chan Hwang, Santiago Ignacio Bueno and Boubacar Traore, with a deep bank of young defenders and forwards retained to support them.
These clubs aren’t making statements of dominance. They’re making statements of survival – and sometimes that says more.
Ambitious climbers: Leeds, Sunderland and others
Leeds United, back in the big time, have moved aggressively.
They keep Ethan Ampadu, Jack Harrison, Joel Piroe and Dan James, but the standout names are Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha, retained as central attacking options, plus Sebastiaan Bornauw and Pascal Struijk in defence. It’s a squad that looks built to stay up, not just visit.
Sunderland’s list is equally striking. Granit Xhaka, Simon Adingra, Nordi Mukiele and Enzo Le Fée remain, surrounding a talented young group that includes Christopher Rigg and a raft of promising defenders. The club have chosen to lean into their momentum rather than cash in.
Burnley, Fulham, Crystal Palace, Brentford, Brighton and Nottingham Forest all show varying shades of the same strategy: lock down the players who define your style, then build around them.
Brighton keep Evan Ferguson, Kaoru Mitoma, Pascal Gross and a new wave of talent including Georginio Rutter and Yankuba Minteh. Brentford hold onto Ethan Pinnock, Mathias Jensen, Mikkel Damsgaard, Keane Lewis-Potter and new goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher. Palace retain Eberechi Eze, Michael Olise’s creative successor in Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, plus Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jefferson Lerma. Fulham keep Bernd Leno, Antonee Robinson, Sander Berge and Emile Smith Rowe. Forest hold Morgan Gibbs-White, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Taiwo Awoniyi and a refreshed defensive unit.
Each club has its own version of the same plan: secure the identity players first, worry about the rest later.
Bournemouth, Spurs and the Solanke subplot
One of the more intriguing cross‑currents lies between Bournemouth and Tottenham.
Bournemouth retain Dominic Solanke (Joseph Ademide Solanke) at the heart of their attack, with Justin Kluivert, Luis Sinisterra and Enes Unal also staying. The Cherries have quietly assembled a technically sharp, mobile front line and chosen to keep it intact.
Tottenham, meanwhile, list Dominic Ayodele Solanke-Mitchell among their forwards. The shared surname will raise eyebrows, but the detail is clear: two different players, two different clubs, both retained as part of ambitious attacking plans.
For Bournemouth, holding Solanke is a statement. For Spurs, stacking forwards such as Tel, Kudus, Kulusevski and Scarlett shows a club determined never again to be one injury away from crisis.
The academy arms race
Beneath the headline names, the retained lists reveal a fierce academy arms race.
Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United all issue a flurry of offers to scholars and young professionals, from Reigan Heskey and Milo Martin at City to Ethan Nwaneri at Arsenal, Cisse Prince Kobe at Liverpool, and a wave of teenagers at United and Chelsea.
Brighton, Brentford and Fulham, long admired for their recruitment models, do the same. Clubs are no longer just protecting first‑team value. They are banking on 16‑ and 17‑year‑olds as future assets, both on the pitch and in the market.
The Premier League has always been a league of stars. Increasingly, it is also a league of futures.
The lists are in. The contracts are filed. The decisions, for now, are made.
The next question is simple: with their core players locked down, which of these clubs have actually built a squad ready to live up to those commitments – and who will spend the season wondering if they backed the right ones?
