Football Manager Daily

Now that the final round of matches have been played in the Premier League, each of the 20 clubs that will be involved in the next edition of the league will be looking ahead to the summer as they draw up plans for a successful season.

Of course, these plans will include those that involve the teams to have recently been promoted from the Championship, with Norwich City and Watford both making a quick return with the vast majority of the same squads that they previously had before, whereas Brentford and Swansea City will still have one game before they think about their future plans.

Indeed, the clubs that were in the Premier League last season will be looking to come up with ways in which they can improve their teams and build on last season’s performances.

Manchester City will likely look at improving their squad to try and retain their title, whereas Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea will all want to challenge and keep their places in the UEFA Champions League at a minimum; although some of them might be trying to learn how to play pokies in their time away from the football pitch.

Clubs like Spurs and Arsenal will want to improve and build on poor campaigns, whilst Leicester City and West Ham United will want to build their squads for UEFA Europa League campaigns.

However, there will be some teams that will need to look at the managerial situation that they find themselves in before they look at building their squads, as there will be a number of new faces to come into the English Premier League – or at least potentially at some new clubs.

There will be a number of changes to those clubs in the middle of the division, starting with Spurs as it would be unlikely to see Ryan Mason given the job permanently, although it equally would not be surprising as other clubs have turned to former club players to guide them on a full-time basis.

Wolverhampton Wanderers will be looking for a new manager after the news that Nuno Espirito Santo has decided to leave was released just before the final game of the season to much surprise. Bruno Lage looks likely to be continuing the Portuguese contingent at Molineux.

Roy Hodgson is stepping back from this role at Crystal Palace, whilst there may be doubts about who is in charge of Newcastle United as Steve Bruce continues to attract criticism, despite achieving a 12th placed finish.