4 Unsung Relegation-Threatened Stars Who Premier League Clubs Must Sign

The assumption is that when a team gets relegated—whatever division they fall from—their squad will be cherry-picked in merciless, unabating fashion by those who fared better in their season’s endeavours; any bright spark emanating from the pits of despair will be snapped up without a second’s hesitance.

While this is often not the case—in 2008-09, Newcastle United lost only four or five first-team players and retained key men, while Burnley have just been promoted using a similar XI to the year they went down, replacing only Kieran Trippier and Danny Ings—the summer of 2016 seems destined to witness three relegated Premier League squads cracked open and picked for parts.

Aston Villa were officially relegated weeks ago yet still continue to astound in their lack of mettle, with caretaker manager Eric Black insisting on playing all of the supporters’ least favourite players to form some kind of ironic, two-fingered gesture to the boo boys. It’s a team of good players who have woefully underachieved, and many in the squad could excel in better homes.

The other two spots are being heavily contested by three teams: Norwich City, Newcastle and Sunderland. Every week the race to avoid relegation takes a new twist or turn, causing many to alter their projected bottom threes once again.

All four sides boast quality in attacking areas, with the likes of Jermain Defoe, Georginio Wijnaldum and Nathan Redmond all likely to headline summer outgoing lists should their teams go down.

With Villa confirmed as relegated, teams across the country will likely be mulling bids for the likes of Jack Grealish and Jordan Ayew and weighing up the finances as we speak.

But what about the lesser-sung performers on these teams who lean more toward a defensive capacity? Hesitation in taking a relegated defender or defensive midfielder is wise—after all, they’ve at least contributed to the shipping of a lot of goals this season—but plucking the diamonds from the rough is how scouts earn a living, and if a manager can right the player’s mindset, you’re onto a winner.

Here are four defensive-minded players—one from each relegated or relegation-threatened club—who Premier League sides shouldn’t think twice about snapping up this summer.

Idrissa Gueye, DM/CM, Aston Villa

Beginning with the definitely relegated, Aston Villa fans have had some time to digest a shocking season and apportion blame where appropriate. There are some players who they’d love to see the back of—we’re talking the likes of Leandro Bacuna and Joleon Lescott here—but some who they’d be rather sad (but ultimately understanding) about losing.

Idrissa Gueye tops this list.

The clear Player of the Season for Villa (though the awards ceremony was rightly cancelled so he will receive no such title), Gueye has stuck to his job regardless of the toxicity in the …

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