Squad retention: 2025-26

Tracking the league minutes lost by every Premier League and EFL team since last season

Jun 20, 2025

Edit: Following on from the initial version on June 20th, I’ve now refreshed the graphics three times with the latest transfer and contract data. The timestamps in the bottom left of each image allow them to be distinguished from earlier versions.

There’s a donut chart for each team in the top four English divisions, with each segment representing a player who featured for them in the league last season. These are sized proportionally to how much they played, with faded-out segments indicating players who have left the club. The big number in the middle of each donut is the percentage of 2024-25 minutes racked up by players who are still there.

I’ve tweaked the aspect ratio of the templates a bit this season to make them fit a phone screen better, which hopefully makes them easier to read.

Premier League

There hasn’t been much movement in the top flight so far, with eight clubs still retaining at least 90% of last season’s league minutes and only two having dipped below three-quarters. This is to be expected, as squad churn tends to get lower as you move up the food chain. Not only are fewer players on short-term deals (or loans) at this level, but there are also fewer teams with the financial muscle necessary to prise talent away from their current employers.

Wolves’ squad has been the most disrupted so far, with three of their six most-used players from last season already missing: Rayan Aït-Nouri and Matheus Cunha have been sold while Nelson Semedo was released. It’s the same story at Bournemouth, with Milos Kerkez and Dean Huijsen having moved to bigger clubs and Kepa Arrizabalaga’s loan ending.

It won’t just be the stadium that looks different for Everton’s first game of next season, as four of their most-used XI from 2024-25 are unlikely to feature. Abdoulaye Doucouré, Ashley Young and Dominic Calvert-Lewin have left, while loanee Jack Harrison has returned to Leeds..

Championship

Moving down to the second tier, we can instantly see that a bit more movement has taken place. There are only three teams who currently have more than 90% of their 2024-25 league minutes still in the building, with three having already dropped below two-thirds.

Preston and Sheffield Wednesday each look set to be without three of their five most-used players and the Owls’ financial troubles could trigger further departures.

At the other end of the spectrum, Coventry are currently the least-changed squad in the top four divisions with less than 1% of minutes lost. Along with Wrexham - who appear to be keeping the faith with the squad that got them promoted - they’re one of only two EFL clubs currently retaining all of their 15 most-used players from last season.

League One

In the third tier, Lincoln are the only club to have held onto at least three-quarters of last season’s minutes as it stands. However the Imps have lost two of their three most-used players to League One rivals: Sean Roughan to Huddersfield and Paudie O'Connor to Reading.

Leyton Orient and Northampton look to be experiencing two different kinds of extreme turnover. Both have lost more than half of last season’s minutes, but Orient are set to be without seven of their eight most-used players (four of whom were loanees). A lot of their retained minutes were therefore accumulated by fringe players, while the Cobblers’ core is relatively intact: they are only missing three of their most-used eight.

Every club in the division bar one is set to be without at least two of their most-used XI, with the exception being Stevenage (who have only lost one as it stands).

League Two

The fourth tier features five teams who have already lost more than half of last season’s minutes, while only one - Gillingham - has held onto at least three-quarters.

When I switched these graphics on in June, Oldham were on course to be the most-changed squad in the EFL, but their retention level has been gradually increasing as members of their play-off winning squad put pen to paper.

The other promoted side Barnet are still holding onto nine of their most-utilised XI, which is the division’s joint-highest along with Cheltenham, Gillingham and Grimsby.

At the other end of the retention spectrum, Crawley have seen seven of their top 10 move on, while five of Barrow’s eight most-used players are no longer there.

Next steps

I’ll continue to check the transfer news regularly and update this page on a roughly weekly basis throughout the window. I haven’t been spamming people’s inboxes every time it changes, with announcements instead tacked onto other posts, social media and Substack Notes.

Some clubs’ percentages have been going up rather than down over the last few weeks as out-of-contract players negotiated new deals. However, there’s only a small rump of these remaining now so I expect most of the remaining movement to be downwards.