Summer 2020 transfer window club-by-club guide: Manchester City to Southampton

The following guide - split into four - breaks down the potential transfer plans for all 19 guaranteed Premier League teams for the 2020/21 season. Do you agree with what areas we think your club should strengthen in?

After two consecutive Premier League titles in 2017/18 and 2018/19, City would have been hoping to achieve the rare feat of three top division titles in a row only achieved by Huddersfield Town, Arsenal, Liverpool and rivals Manchester United (twice). Much to their disappointment, Liverpool romped home to the title, leaving the Citizens in a distant second place, 18 points adrift. Next season, Pep Guardiola and his players will be expecting to challenge for the title once again - especially after their European football ban was overturned.

Centre back: Although they may have only conceded 35 goals over the course of the season - the second-best record in the league - there have been certain matches when their defensive frailties have been exposed. Aymeric Laporte spent most of the season injured, John Stones was either injured or underperforming and the now 32-year-old Nicolas Otamendi has failed to be truly convincing during his five seasons at the Etihad. These factors meant that veteran defensive midfielder Fernandinho played the bulk of his games at centre back, with fellow midfielder Rodri and youngster Eric Garcia playing some games there too. Nathan Ake has been added from relegated Bournemouth for around £40 million, but there are question marks about whether he will be a starter. Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly or Inter Milan’s Milan Skriniar would be the dream signing to partner Laporte and solve City’s defensive woes.

Full-backs: At left-back City currently have the injury-prone Benjamin Mendy, the sub-par Oleksandr Zinchenko who has also spent a lot of time injured and Angelino who spent the second half of the season on loan at RB Leipzig. On the other side of the pitch at right-back, Kyle Walker is on the decline and has landed himself in hot water off the field for multiple breaches of lockdown rules and Joao Cancelo has failed to impress. The Citizens might seek to challenge their Premier League rivals to the signings of left-backs David Alaba, Ben Chilwell or Nicolas Tagliafico, while Barcelona’s Nelson Semedo could join at right-back, possibly in a part-exchange deal involving Cancelo. Any signings in these positions will probably depend on outgoings though.

Winger: After a stellar decade at the club racking up 77 goals and 140 assists in 434 appearances, David Silva departs as a club legend and leaves a void in attacking midfield that one anticipates will be filled by the immensely talented Phil Foden. After the sale of Leroy Sane, City have Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva and new recruit Ferran Tores. Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish is another man linked.

The Red Devils had a triumphant end to a season of transition, overcoming a 14-point deficit to snatch Champions League football from Leicester’s grasp and finish in third, while still having the Europa League to play for. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has appeared to restore the feel-good factor at Old Trafford after a rocky start. The January signing of Bruno Fernandes has had a tremendous impact on the squad, with his eight goals and seven assists in 14 league games dovetailed well with the returning Paul Pogba. The introduction of Mason Greenwood to first-team football has been a revelation, Anthony Martial is enjoying his football again as a central striker and Marcus Rashford has been great on and off the pitch. The main areas of concern happen to be at the other end of the pitch, but a strong transfer window could help turn Manchester United into serious contenders.

Right-winger: After an underwhelming season from Welsh speed merchant Daniel James and with Jesse Lingard potentially set to leave the club, a world-class right-winger who is versatile across the forward line would add both depth and quality to the current front three of Rashford, Martial and Greenwood. Jack Grealish has attracted their attention, but their cross-city rivals appear more interested in the Villa talisman. Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho is the man the club and their fans truly want. Various soundbites from Dortmund’s sporting director Michael Zorc has hinted at the signing happening, but United would have to stump up a hefty amount of cash and convince Sancho of their chances at winning trophies in the coming years. The second part seems far easier than the first.

Left-back: Luke Shaw is a decent player and 19-year-old Brandon Williams has a lot of potential, but it is clear that United could do with more quality in that position. Much has been made of right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka being much better defensively than he is going forward, yet he has four assists and 26 key passes this season in comparison to Shaw’s 0 assists and 20 key passes. In fact, Wan-Bissaka’s seven assists over the past two seasons is equal to Shaw’s career assist total at club level. Leicester’s Ben Chilwell and Monaco’s Fode Ballo-Toure are both apparently United targets in this position.

Centre back: The trio of Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo are all probable departures. That leaves Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly as the senior centre-backs at the club. Maguire and Lindelof have both looked inadequate at times and Bailly has been plagued by injury, so it makes sense to add another central defender to their roster. United could join Everton in chasing Gabriel Magalhaes or Man City in going after Nathan Ake, with Solskjaer sending social media into a frenzy when lipreaders claimed that he told the Bournemouth defender they "need a left-footed centre-back” after United's s match against the Cherries.

The Steve Bruce-led Tynesiders stuttered their way to 13th place in the Premier League table this year. Much-loathed retail entrepreneur Mike Ashley is looking to sell the club for what feels like the millionth time yet on this occasion it sounds genuine, but after much controversy Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, PCP Capital Partners and Reuben Brothers withdrew their interest in taking over the club. Newcastle fans would love to have an endlessly large transfer kitty to buy up the world’s best talent but with the latest takeover falling through that looks like it will have to wait.

Striker: Brazilian Joelinton, a club-record signing from the Bundesliga’s Hoffenheim, has had a torrid season with a return of four goals in 44 games. The homecoming for local lad Andy Carroll has been quiet, failing to score at all in 21 matches in all competitions, and Dwight Gayle and Yoshinori Muto have just five goals between them. It would be sensible to bring Aleksandar Mitrovic back to the North East. If a takeover goes through before the end of the transfer window they might have the finances to tempt an experienced goal-getter in the shape of Gonzalo Higuain or Edinson Cavani to don the famous black and white stripes...

Full-backs: Due to the expiration of Jetro Willems’ and Danny Rose’s loan deals together with Javier Manquillo contract, Newcastle will aim to bring in reinforcements at both left-back and right-back. For the former, Danny Rose might join on a permanent basis as there is only one year left on his Spurs deal, and Le Havre’s Umut Meraş is another possible addition. Regarding the latter, Real Betis’ Emerson and Bouna Sarr of Marseille have both been mentioned as potential buys.

Wingers: Allan Saint-Maximin has endeared himself to the Toon Army thanks to his inspired performances for the team and humorous social media posts, but when it comes to the other Newcastle United wide men there is little to be enthused about. Christian Atsu has been lacking an end product for years now, Valentino Lazaro has not impressed on loan and the waning Matt Ritchie has spent much of the season in the physio room or being forced to play as a full-back. Demarai Gray, who has been struggling for minutes at Leicester City, and Todd Cantwell, who has just been relegated with Norwich, would expand Newcastle’s selection of wingers.

After spending much of the season looking set for European qualification, Chris Wilder’s men plummeted from fifth to ninth place in the last 12 games of the season. In the grand scheme of things it was still an impressive showing for the newly promoted team who were back in the top tier for the first since the 06/07 season, but much like Leicester’s Champions League hopes the Blades will be left to rue what could have been. Still, many will glance at the Sheffield United squad and consider even ninth place a big over-achievement. If this is what Chris Wilder is able to achieve with this squad then who knows what he may do with more reinforcements, although the summer budget will be limited after forking out £22million on Norwegian international midfielder Sander Berge in January.

Goalkeeper: Dean Henderson has been nothing short of outstanding for Sheffield United. In his second season on loan from Manchester United, the 23-year-old keeper is ranked as the third best shot-stopper in the top-flight based on save percentage at 75.2%. Intriguingly, that puts him ahead of the incumbent Manchester United number one David De Gea whose form has been worsening in recent times. Once you consider England number one Jordan Pickford’s shaky form for Everton, you can imagine why Henderson might fancy his chances of securing both spots if he returns to his parent club. If he does, Sheffield United will be forced to find someone to succeed him. Sheffield United academy graduate Aaron Ramsdale, who they sold to Bournemouth in 2017 is a potential choice to replace Henderson. Trabzonspor’s in-demand stopper Ugurcan Cakır is another exciting option. Wes Foderingham joined on a free transfer from Rangers a couple of weeks ago but he will probably begin his Blades career as the back-up option.

Striker: Lys Mousset and Oli McBurnie both joined last summer for club-record fees at the time in the region of £10million and £20million respectively before the latter record was broken when Berge joined at the halfway point of the season. Each of them only scored six goals in spite of the sizeable outlay. Liverpool’s Rhian Brewster, who has shone on loan at Swansea in the Championship this season, would be a budget-friendly signing if Sheffield United could get him on loan.

Creative midfielder: This season the Blades had the third-lowest number of key passes in the league, highlighting a lack of creativity in midfield. Reading’s John Swift, with six goals and 10 assists in the Championship this season, might be a cost-effective solution to that issue, seeing that his reported transfer fee is about £3.5million.

Saints fans will be encouraged by an outstanding second half to the season that dragged them out of another relegation battle to finish 11th. After joining the club midway through last season, Ralph Hasenhuttl was finally able to make inroads in instilling his preferred philosophy and style of play on the Southampton squad during his first full season with them. It was reward for the board for sticking with him after a 9-0 loss to Leicester City. Through whatever signings the club makes, Hasenhuttl will want to continue to build a side suited to his fast-paced, high pressing tactics and a challenge for European qualification.

Centre back: Polish international Jan Bednarek now looks at home in the Southampton starting XI after taking time to settle in at St Mary’s since joining in summer 2017. Jack Stephens has shown improvements but still has a fairly limited skill set, 6’6” Jannik Vestergaard has struggled as a result of his lack of mobility and ability with the ball at his feet, while loanee Kevin Danso has done very little in his 10 appearances to warrant the Saints making his transfer from Augsburg permanent. In an interview with BBC Radio Solent, Southampton CEO Martin Semmens seemed to confirm that they are on the verge of completing the £10.9million signing of Mohammed Salisu from Real Valladolid, beating a lot of bigger clubs to get hold of the Ghanaian centre back.

Right-back: Euro 2016 winner Cedri Soares has completed a move to Arsenal after five mediocre seasons on the south coast that ended with him being edged out the team by the young Yan Valery, who has lots of promise but can lack composure and be error-prone. The lack of depth in this position has meant players such as James Ward-Prowse or Stephens have been moved out of position to fill in at right-back on occasion. Joakim Maehle, Deyovaisio Zeefuik, Matty Cash and Ryan Fredericks are just some of the names being discussed, but strong performances from Spurs loanee Kyle Walker-Peters could see his loan deal made permanent - perhaps as a part-exchange deal with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg going the other way.

Centre midfielder: It seems inevitable that Danish international and former club captain Hojbjerg will leave for either Everton or Tottenham as long as Saints’ asking price, which is believed to be around £25million, is met. If he does leave, Southampton will be losing a deep-lying playmaker who passes the ball well and reads the game well too. However, the fact that he sometimes finds it difficult to influence games combined with his poor shooting ability mean that he should be replaceable despite his evident quality. Likely targets include Celtic’s Olivier Ntcham, Rapid Vienna’s Dejan Ljubicic and Torino’s Soualiho Meïte, but rumours pairing the Saints with USA international Weston McKennie seem the most convincing at this stage.