A star on every Premier League Big 6 club who would be better somewhere else

Sometimes, a player just doesn’t fit a club. Even if they are a world-class footballer, they just might not fit the DNA, playing style, or manager. They may not even fit the league at all, or things have just become so corrosive over time that a change of scenery is what is needed to right the course. Here is every Premier League Big Six club’s star player who would be better served playing somewhere else.

Arsenal

Honestly, I just don’t think Viktor Gyokeres is a good fit for the Premier League. There’s just not enough space for him to play in transition, which is where he was killing people at Sporting CP, and he’s just not quick enough in tight spaces to get shooting opportunities off. That’s a real killer for a striker who is supposed to be a real sharpshooter in the box, but he’s more of a power shooter than a curler, which, again, hurts his ability to work those shots around tight defenses.

Arsenal are heavy in possession, and while you would figure that would benefit a big burly No. 9 like Gyokeres, it’s just not his game. He needs to go to the Bundesliga or even Serie A where he will have more space and the opportunity to be a 20-goal striker for a team that isn’t competing for the title.

Chelsea

Honestly, Danny Welbeck is my choice, not because he’s a bad player or he can’t help Chelsea in a bench role, but I just don’t understand why the Blues even wanted a veteran striker behind Joao Pedro. I also don’t understand why Welbeck wanted to play second fiddle when he was doing so well with Brighton, and imagine what he would be doing right now with how well Brighton are clicking in the latest season under Fabian Hurzeler.

Welbeck is still one of the better strikers in the Premier League, and he’s honestly gotten a lot better with age. I can remember when he was just fumbling over the ball left and right at Manchester United, and we all wondered what on earth he was doing at a big club like that. Years later, Welbeck is at a big club, too, and I am still questioning it, because he makes so much more sense as the veteran leader of a young, exciting mid-table side fighting for the Europa League.

Liverpool

I don’t even need to pretend to think about this one. The answer is Florian Wirtz. He’s such a great player, and anyone who questions the raw quality of this young man has simply not been paying attention to football over the last five years. Wirtz excels in tight spaces with his creativity and quick feet, and he was scoring both double digit goals and assists year after year for Bayer Leverkusen, leading their historic undefeated season.

Since joining Liverpool for a minimum of 100 million pounds, Wirtz has been closer to average than great as a No. 10. Even as Liverpool are improving under Andoni Iraola, Wirtz is still making no end product. He would be so much better with a club with a different DNA that is more possession based. Bayern Munich, Barcelona, and Manchester City all wanted Wirtz badly before he joined Liverpool, and, honestly, he’d be an insane fit for Barca if they were ever to create a vacancy by, say, selling Dani Olmo.

Manchester City

Honestly, the hardest team to pick a player from is Manchester City, because pretty much all their big stars are doing well and fit the club perfectly. But the player I actually question the most is one of their promising new signings of the future, Ayyoub Bouaddi. I am not as high on Bouaddi as some people, but even I think he’s way too talented to be playing for a club like Man City right now where he is a backup and doesn’t seem to have high hopes of being a starter this season.

Bouaddi plays a position with a steep learning curve at the elite level, and as impressive as he could be for Morocco and Lille last season, he still had games where the bigger teams swallowed him whole. The 19-year-old defensive midfielder has to be playing every week, and that’s just not going to happen at Man City. And with the turmoil set to ensue from the 114 charges, Bouaddi honestly made the wrong choice this summer.

Manchester United

Manchester United have a lot of castoffs just rotting on the bench, but none of those guys are really “stars” at this point in their Premier League careers. But I think it’s crazy that a young, promising striker like Benjamin Sesko is rotting on the bench. I bet he wishes Arsenal signed him instead of Viktor Gyokeres, as those two striker transfers from last year haven’t worked out well for anyone.

Right now, Man United stink and are in the bottom half of the table, with Sesko not even starting a game. Like Ayyoub Bouaddi, Sesko is a guy with so much raw quality who needs to be starting every week. But unlike Man City, who are top of the Premier League table, Sesko isn’t even starting for a Red Devils side that is back to being dysfunctional. And casting out Sesko is another reason why they are so dysfunctional.

Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham Hotspur have a lot of great candidates for this spot, and while calling Mathys Tel a star is a stretch, compared to some of the forwards Spurs have been giving minutes to since the start of the 2025/26 season, he really has been one of their best attackers before suddenly falling off a cliff during the 2026/27 Premier League season, even after an amazing preseason.