Only eight players league-wide were left off 25-man lists after the summer deadline, and Richarlison is the only senior international among them.
Back to the trend of the day: Brazil star Richarlison dropped by his coach: «No longer my problem»
Poly Rating · from the trend of the day
Players Left Out of Premier League Squads 2026/27
Tottenham paid £60m for Richarlison, who scored 11 league goals for them last season, and he is now off their 25-man Premier League list and playing for the reserves while De Zerbi says his future is "no longer my problem".
- No. 1: Kieran Dowell
- 9 places
01Final list
The leading AIs each built their own list of ten independently. Here is one result that is easy to check: every place has a reason, a source, and the list of AIs that included it.
Order: from most to least AI agreement.
A bright badge means this AI put the entry on its list. A dim badge means it did not.
- 1
Kieran Dowell
Off Hull's 25-man list after the promoted club made 19 signings, 'simply because others have been preferred'. No league football before January. Fee and wages not published.
Included it: Claude, Kimi. Did not include: ChatGPT, Meta, Gemini, Nemotron, DeepSeek, Wenxin.2 AIs put it here - 2
David Akintola
Hull's second deadline-day cut, left off the 25-man list because others were preferred. He can't play a league minute until January. Fee and wages not found.
Included it: Claude, Kimi. Did not include: ChatGPT, Meta, Gemini, Nemotron, DeepSeek, Wenxin.2 AIs put it here - 3
David Button
Estimate: Ipswich left the veteran goalkeeper off the 25-man list and reportedly treat him as a training player, so he gets no league minutes until January.
Included it: Claude, Kimi. Did not include: ChatGPT, Meta, Gemini, Nemotron, DeepSeek, Wenxin.2 AIs put it here - 4
Jake Bidwell
Coventry left the experienced defender off their 25-man list in the club's first Premier League season since promotion. The report gives no reason, and fee and wages are not found.
Included it: Claude, Kimi. Did not include: ChatGPT, Meta, Gemini, Nemotron, DeepSeek, Wenxin.2 AIs put it here - 5
Kaide Gordon
Once Liverpool's teenage hope, now 22 and off the 25-man list. Born in 2004, he is too old to play as an Under-21. Only one tracker names him.
Included it: Kimi. Did not include: Claude, ChatGPT, Meta, Gemini, Nemotron, DeepSeek, Wenxin.In their lists: Kimi: 4
What each AI noted 1
- Kimiplace 4
Once Liverpool's great teenage hope; at 22 he is now listed with the U21s and training with a squad he cannot play for before January.
Source ↗
1 AIs put it here - 6
Owen Beck
A homegrown left-back left off Liverpool's 25-man list who can't play league football before January. Only one tracker names him, and fee and wages are not found.
Included it: Kimi. Did not include: Claude, ChatGPT, Meta, Gemini, Nemotron, DeepSeek, Wenxin.In their lists: Kimi: 7
What each AI noted 1
- Kimiplace 7
Liverpool's other cut: a homegrown left-back who cannot be registered in the Premier League until January.
Source ↗
1 AIs put it here - 7
Josh Wilson-Esbrand
Off Manchester City's 25-man list after the club's summer rebuild. It looks like a pecking-order cut, not a dispute. Only one tracker names him.
Included it: Kimi. Did not include: Claude, ChatGPT, Meta, Gemini, Nemotron, DeepSeek, Wenxin.In their lists: Kimi: 8
What each AI noted 1
- Kimiplace 8
Left out of the champions' 25 while City rebuilt a whole midfield around him.
Source ↗
1 AIs put it here - 8
Rayan Aït-Nouri
Registered but unused: 0 of 630 league minutes after a £31m move (other reports say £33.7m), on an estimated £120k a week. One source gives the minutes.
Included it: DeepSeek. Did not include: Claude, ChatGPT, Meta, Gemini, Nemotron, Kimi, Wenxin.In their lists: DeepSeek: 2
What each AI noted 1
- DeepSeekplace 2
A £31m left-back with zero Premier League minutes — his only 90-minute outing this season produced two assists in the EFL Cup.
Source ↗
1 AIs put it here - 9
Yann Gboho
Coventry paid €12m and he has 0 of 630 league minutes. He is now out of the matchday group with no injury reported. The £45k weekly wage is an estimate.
Included it: DeepSeek. Did not include: Claude, ChatGPT, Meta, Gemini, Nemotron, Kimi, Wenxin.In their lists: DeepSeek: 3
What each AI noted 1
- DeepSeekplace 3
Coventry paid €12m for him, then left him out of the matchday squad entirely — zero Premier League minutes so far.
Source ↗
1 AIs put it here
02Worth knowing
What the AIs noticed while building the list.
Spurs moved two other unhappy players on deadline day: Sarr went to Juventus on loan with a £24m option, and Danso to Sunderland for £2.5m plus a £22.5m obligation. Richarlison turned down Vasco da Gama and stayed.
De Zerbi went from 'it's not my decision' in September to 'not my problem any more' on 18 October. Coach and club now point at each other.
Chelsea's old 'bomb squad' has mostly gone out on loan: Disasi is at Crystal Palace and Mudryk at Spurs. That is why they are not on this list.
Not every missing name is a freeze-out. Kobbie Mainoo and Leny Yoro are missing from Man Utd's list only because they count as Under-21s and sit outside the 25-player cap.
03Questions people ask
How many players are allowed in a Premier League squad?
Up to 25 senior players, no more than 17 of them non-homegrown. Eligible Under-21s are registered on top of the 25.
Source ↗How many players are in a Premier League matchday squad?
20. So even registered players are left out every week, while players off the 25-man list can't play at all until January.
Source ↗Who counts as an Under-21 for the 2026/27 squad list?
Sources differ. Liverpool's site says players born on or after 1 January 2005; Football Whispers says 2007.
Source ↗Which players were left out of Premier League squads?
Eight names after the 2026 deadline: Richarlison, Kaide Gordon, Owen Beck, Josh Wilson-Esbrand, Kieran Dowell, David Akintola, David Button and Jake Bidwell.
Source ↗04How we counted
In plain words, no formulas.
1The question
Top 10 Premier League Players Frozen Out This Season: What the Club Paid vs. What They Play
2Why this topic
No published list puts minutes not played, the fee, the wage bill, the drop in value and the public dispute side by side for every player shut out this season.
3Where it applies
Premier League (England), 2026/27 season to date
4What we looked at
- Share of available league minutes played this season (lowest first)
- Club outlay: transfer fee plus estimated wages for the same period
- Current market value compared with the fee paid
- Whether the exclusion reads as a football decision or a fallout (judgment score)
- Premier League (official squad lists) — Each club's registered 25-man list (max 17 non-homegrown) and the separate Under-21 list
- Football Whispers — Players left off 25-man lists after the summer 2026 deadline, by club
- OneFootball / FBref (Opta data) — League minutes played by registered players who rarely or never get on
- Capology — Estimated gross weekly and annual wages (estimates, not club figures)
5Who ranked
The leading AIs, each building its own list of ten independently and naming a source for every place: Claude, ChatGPT, Meta, Gemini, Nemotron, Kimi, DeepSeek, Wenxin.
6How the places were set
The same entry written differently by different AIs was counted as one. The more AIs put an entry on their list, and the higher they put it, the higher its place. "AI agreement" shows how many of the AIs had it on their own list. Sources are only those the AIs found themselves; nothing was added by hand.
05Each AI's own list
🇺🇸 Claude7 places · 4 notes
The same question, answered by Claude alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.
- 1Richarlison (Tottenham)
Spurs' top scorer last season, he is now off the 25-man list and playing for the reserves, while his coach says it is "no longer my problem".
Source ↗ - 2Marc Guiu (Chelsea)
No Premier League goals and not training with the first team, yet Chelsea reportedly want £25m for him.
Source ↗ - 3David Datro Fofana (Chelsea)
Five loan spells and no goals in nine appearances last season, and he still trains away from the group.
Source ↗ - 4Kieran Dowell (Hull City)
Hull left out players "simply because others have been preferred", and Dowell is one of them.
Source ↗ - 5David Akintola (Hull City)
A second Hull forward or midfielder named alongside Dowell as dropped on preference alone.
Source ↗ - 6David Button (Ipswich Town)
A goalkeeper the club reportedly treats as a training player.
Source ↗ - 7Jake Bidwell (Coventry City)
An experienced defender left off Coventry's list with no reason given in the report.
Source ↗
What Claude noticed
Not every missing name is a freeze-out. Man Utd's list omits Kobbie Mainoo and Leny Yoro only because they count as Under-21s this season, so they sit outside the 25-player cap.
Chelsea have dropped the old isolated "bomb squad". The second group of up to 12 players now trains on the same pitches as Xabi Alonso's main group.
Richarlison was told before the deadline that he was not in De Zerbi's plans so he could find a new club. The window closed with him still at Spurs.
Several players named in August as outside Chelsea's plans have since moved. Axel Disasi is on a season-long loan at Crystal Palace and Mykhailo Mudryk is on loan at Spurs. Both are therefore not ranked.
🇺🇸 Gemini10 places · 1 notes
The same question, answered by Gemini alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.
- 1Richarlison
A £60m striker relegated to reserve training while his manager publically announced him as 'no longer my problem.'
Source ↗ - 2Raheem Sterling
Chelsea's highest earner at £325,000 per week had his squad number stripped before playing a single competitive second.
Source ↗ - 3Jadon Sancho
Exiled from all first-team facilities and cafeteria access following a social media stand-off after a £73m transfer.
Source ↗ - 4Ben Chilwell
A Champions League-winning vice-captain explicitly notified by management that staying meant zero minutes of football.
Source ↗ - 5Antony
The Premier League's second-costliest winger reduced to a combined 27 league minutes across two months.
Source ↗ - 6Kalvin Phillips
Cost Manchester City over £1m per league start before being permanently excised from tactical rotation.
Source ↗ - 7Axel Disasi
A £38.5m French international defender shunted into Cobham's secondary workout unit after refusing peripheral moves.
Source ↗ - 8Carney Chukwuemeka
A £20m youth acquisition on £100,000-a-week stranded without a single Premier League appearance this season.
Source ↗ - 9David Datro Fofana
Signed on an eight-year contract, he was shut out of senior training grounds until emergency loan arrangements materialized.
Source ↗ - 10Kieran Trippier
Newcastle's veteran leader saw his minutes plummet by 82% following summer transfer speculation and captaincy shifts.
Source ↗
What Gemini noticed
Richarlison's public displacement into Tottenham's U21 fixture marked the first time a senior Brazil World Cup starting striker was openly demoted to developmental reserve football mid-season.
🇨🇳 Kimi10 places · 4 notes
The same question, answered by Kimi alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.
- 1Richarlison (Tottenham Hotspur, 2026/27)
£60m striker, zero league minutes, and a coach who now says his future is 'not my problem any more' — the freeze-out of the season by a mile.
Source ↗ - 2Pape Matar Sarr (Tottenham Hotspur, 2026/27)
A World Cup starter for Senegal sold from the engine room on deadline day — season-long Juventus loan with a £24m option attached.
Source ↗ - 3Kevin Danso (Tottenham Hotspur, 2026/27)
Europa League winner bought for £20m twelve months ago, moved on for a £2.5m loan fee with a £22.5m obligation that only triggers if Sunderland survive.
Source ↗ - 4Kaide Gordon (Liverpool, 2026/27)
Once Liverpool's great teenage hope; at 22 he is now listed with the U21s and training with a squad he cannot play for before January.
Source ↗ - 5Kieran Dowell (Hull City, 2026/27)
Hull signed 19 players this summer — the former Everton midfielder became surplus to requirements before the season even began.
Source ↗ - 6David Akintola (Hull City, 2026/27)
The second Hull forward cut on deadline day — frozen out of a first Premier League campaign since 2016/17.
Source ↗ - 7Owen Beck (Liverpool, 2026/27)
Liverpool's other cut: a homegrown left-back who cannot be registered in the Premier League until January.
Source ↗ - 8Josh Wilson-Esbrand (Manchester City, 2026/27)
Left out of the champions' 25 while City rebuilt a whole midfield around him.
Source ↗ - 9Jake Bidwell (Coventry City, 2026/27)
Coventry's promotion came at his expense — an experienced defender made to watch from the stands in the club's first top-flight season in decades.
Source ↗ - 10David Button (Ipswich Town, 2026/27)
Ipswich say the quiet part out loud: he is registered as a training player, and everyone knows it.
Source ↗
What Kimi noticed
Only eight players in the entire league were left out of 25-man squads this season — and Richarlison is the only senior international among them; the other seven are squad-number casualties of promoted clubs' spending sprees (Hull: 19 signings; newly-promoted trio signed 35+ players combined).
Tottenham's triple exile tells one story: Sarr (option £24m to Juventus) and Danso (£2.5m fee + £22.5m obligation to Sunderland) both told De Zerbi they wanted out and got moves; Richarlison wanted out, failed to get one, and is the one still frozen.
The freeze has a schedule, not just a mood: omitted players cannot play league football until the next window, so Richarlison — a 2026 World Cup snub who then couldn't leave — played for the U21s against League Two Cheltenham Town and scored twice in a 2-2 draw while De Zerbi took the first team to Marbella.
The 25-man rule is the hidden engine: max 17 non-homegrown players, and anyone born before 1 January 2007 must be registered — which is exactly how Liverpool (Gordon, Beck) and Manchester City (Wilson-Esbrand) trimmed their homegrown excess.
🇨🇳 DeepSeek10 places · 3 notes
The same question, answered by DeepSeek alone. The final list above combines all the AIs.
- 1Richarlison (Tottenham Hotspur, 2026/27)
£60m fee, £90k a week, zero league minutes — and the manager says the exclusion is “not my problem any more”.
Source ↗ - 2Rayan Aït-Nouri (Manchester City, 2026/27)
A £31m left-back with zero Premier League minutes — his only 90-minute outing this season produced two assists in the EFL Cup.
Source ↗ - 3Yann Gboho (Coventry City, 2026/27)
Coventry paid €12m for him, then left him out of the matchday squad entirely — zero Premier League minutes so far.
Source ↗ - 4Nick Pope (Newcastle United, 2026/27)
Newcastle’s former No.1 is now third choice on £60k a week — he did not even make the bench for the first two league games.
Source ↗ - 5Pascal Struijk (Brighton & Hove Albion, 2026/27)
A £18m centre-back has played one league minute — one more than three far more expensive exiles above him.
Source ↗ - 6Viktor Gyökeres (Arsenal, 2026/27)
A £55m striker has 12 league minutes — and his market value has already dropped €10m.
Source ↗ - 7Leny Yoro (Manchester United, 2026/27)
A £52m defender has 22 league minutes — but France still called him up in September.
Source ↗ - 8Noni Madueke (Arsenal, 2026/27)
A €56m winger has 23 league minutes — Atletico Madrid and Juventus are already circling.
Source ↗ - 9Eberechi Eze (Arsenal, 2026/27)
A £67.5m summer signing has 85 league minutes and still no Premier League start.
- 10Martín Zubimendi (Arsenal, 2026/27)
He played over 3,000 minutes in last season’s title win; this season he has 89 league minutes.
Source ↗
What DeepSeek noticed
Richarlison scored 11 league goals last season — Tottenham have scored only three times in their first six league games this season, making the omission look even more costly.
A Premier League matchday squad has only 20 players, so a 25-man squad omission is a much harder exile than simply being left on the bench.
Aït-Nouri’s only 90-minute appearance this season was in the EFL Cup, where he produced two assists — yet he has not played a single Premier League minute.