Why Mohamed Salah is somehow UNDERRATED, Pep Guardiola’s No 1 priority this summer and the star who should be in Thomas Tuchel’s England World Cup squad – PREMIER LEAGUE THINGS WE LEARNED

So, that’s that. Another season is in the books.

Sunday pulled down the curtain on the 2024-25 campaign and already clubs are looking ahead to next season, while also reflecting on the year just gone. 

Nottingham Forest got into Europe; Liverpool won a league title in Arne Slot‘s first season in England; Tottenham lost 22 league games and still had one of their best seasons in years; all three promoted sides went straight back down.

There was also an emotional return to Everton for David Moyes and their tear-jerking exit from Goodison Park.

Crystal Palace won the FA Cup, but Arsenal and Manchester United fluffed their lines to end up empty-handed.

Mail Sport picks out 10 things we learned during the 2024-25 season…

Amorim will be under pressure from day one next season

Ruben Amorim has the backing of the Manchester United hierarchy and that was underlined after a swift visit to sit down with the powers that be in Monaco on Friday.

He will be backed with new players this summer that suit his 3-4-2-1 system and with no European football he will be down to one game a week, finally getting that time on the training ground he has craved since he arrived in November.

But what he also has going into next season is very little time to show signs of progress.

Amorim is fiercely loyal to his principles and although that is admirable, he is under no illusion that a bad start to next season will see the knives out for him, just as they were at the start of this season for Erik ten Hag.

‘That is normal, that is a risk when I started six months ago and if you start now you can have a pre-season and that season will be the first season,’ Amorim conceded after Sunday’s 2-0 win over Aston Villa.

‘I have to deliver next year. I am really confident we are going to play better and get more results. It will take time. We will suffer again but we need to have better results, that’s for sure.’

The rhetoric around Carrington is that these bumpy six months have allowed Amorim and his staff to identify where they have room for improvement – there are many – and that will help heading into next season.

Matheus Cunha and Liam Delap are expected to be imminent arrivals, and they are also looking to sign a midfielder and a goalkeeper.

But ultimately, patience only lasts so long at a club like Manchester United, and Amorim knows it.

Arteta has no wiggle room left without trophies

Talking of managers that go into next season under even more pressure than before, I present Mikel Arteta.

It is undeniable Arsenal took steps forward this campaign as they knocked out Real Madrid to reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League.

But they also went without a trophy – again – while bitter rivals Tottenham won the Europa League, Liverpool won a league title, and Chelsea are one game from winning the Conference League.

Arsenal bowed out of the FA Cup in the third round against Manchester United and were knocked out of the Carabao Cup in the semi-finals against Newcastle.

As former Arsenal striker Ian Wright put it, the women’s team winning the Women’s Champions League has ‘saved’ the club’s season.

‘The embarrassment of not winning anything this season when we’ve played so well with the men,’ Wright said on TNT Sports. ‘The ladies have saved the club. We’ve got something to celebrate.’

Many want to show grace to Arteta, who spent north of £650million in the job, but there is only so long you can gloss over the fact you don’t win trophies.

There will be no excuses left – or a job to hold on to – if we are having this same discussion in a year’s time. It’s now or never for Arteta.

Midfield must be the priority for Guardiola this summer

A summer refresh is essential for Manchester City after a third-placed finish which, by their standards, is particularly underwhelming.

Midfield should be priority No 1 for Pep Guardiola with Kevin De Bruyne leaving for Napoli, question marks over the long-term future of youngster James McAtee, and the topsy-turvy form of ageing stars such as Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva.

There have been too many games this season where City were overrun in midfield.

The return of Ballon d’Or winner Rodri will solve some of Pep’s problems, and Nico Gonzalez looks a clever piece of recruitment.

Sales are needed, too. City’s squad of 26 is bloated to the max and Guardiola knows it.

‘The last three weeks or a month, (I have been) leaving four, five, six players at home,’ he said.

‘That is not healthy; for any of us, for them especially, for the club, me, anyone. The club knows it and the club completely agrees with me, so we’re going to find the best way for all of us.’

So, yes, sales are imperative. But so is finding a box-to-box player who can inject much-needed energy into a group that looked to be sapped of it in key moments this season.

That revolving door at the Etihad Stadium should be kept busy this summer…

Everton badly need a reliable goal scorer

The fact only relegated sides scored fewer goals than Everton’s 42 this season underlines just how vital it is that David Moyes lands himself a reliable scorer this summer.

The Toffees have held talks with Liam Delap but are likely to miss out. There will be other targets for whom they face stiff competition.

Everton have failed to score or scored just once on 24 occasions this season and 27 of their 42 goals (64 per cent) have arrived since Moyes returned to the club in mid-January.

He has reinvigorated Everton but rather than rest on their laurels, the club must reward him by finding someone who can reliably put the ball in the net.

Being one of the lowest scorers in the league is always a recipe for disaster so it’s time for the powers that be at Everton to put their money where their mouth is.

Bournemouth must beware rebuild

Only four teams conceded fewer goals than Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth this season but with Dean Huijsen going to Real Madrid and Milos Kerkez widely expected to join Liverpool, there should be an air of trepidation on the south coast.

Illya Zabarnyi is also attracting interest from Premier League rivals, along with Paris Saint-Germain, so Iraola risks having his extremely talented young back line torn apart.

Clubs such as Bournemouth, Brentford and Brighton have a reputation for never missing a beat in the market, all while selling their best players each summer. But it is far easier said than done.

It is well-documented that crucial transfer windows lie in wait for the likes of Manchester United and Manchester City for different reasons, but Bournemouth are another club that cannot afford to make many wrong moves.

Recruitment has been a strong point for the Cherries of late with the likes of Antoine Semenyo, Justin Kluivert, Huijsen, Kerkez and Zabarnyi huge success stories.

Even so, when the big clubs come knocking and the money rolls in, you have to try to pull another rabbit out of the hat.

Bournemouth beware.

Rogers should be in England’s 2026 World Cup squad

It won’t be long until attention turns to ‘who will make the plane’ for England’s 2026 World Cup campaign and based on what I saw this season, Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers must be included in the squad.

This was a real breakout year for Rogers, who proved he could thrive in the Premier League and Champions League.

The 22-year-old scored 14 goals and provided 15 assists in all competitions this season, which will surely not go unnoticed by England boss Thomas Tuchel. Rogers  is certainly in the ascendency a year out from the biggest tournament in world football.

He has four senior England caps, all earned this season, and although he will need to maintain his levels from this season he has put himself in the driver’s seat to be in the squad next summer.

Glasner needs backing to take Palace to the next level

Crystal Palace received a guard of honour at Anfield on Sunday and most people were in the mood to party regardless of how the 90 minutes panned out.

‘Most people’ did not include Palace boss Oliver Glasner, though. He made it clear post-match that he was annoyed by Palace’s lacklustre performance – but rather than be perturbed by it, those in charge at the club should feel heartened as they head into next season with a European campaign to juggle.

‘I’m not really pleased with our performance; not in general, but a few players didn’t play 100 per cent for the team and how we want to play,’ Glasner said bluntly. ‘I didn’t like to see this. There was a little bit of ego in some situations. That’s why we drew, because there were so many situations to win.

‘I don’t forget our start to the season, where it was a little bit similar and we missed our chances and opportunities because of a lack of determination. I felt this today, which is why I am not pleased with the performance. We can always find excuses. It’s easy to find excuses. If we always find excuses, we’d be at the bottom end of the table and relegated.

‘There’s always a reason for something, there’s always a reason for missing chances, always a reason for whatever.’

His post-match rant continued: ‘We are talking about raising our standards and a few things I saw today, I don’t accept. It’s just my feeling. Maybe it’s a little unfair when you see the big picture over the season but if we have the mindset from today, next season we will struggle again and I don’t want to experience that.’

If Palace are to do what Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest have done in recent times and challenge for European places, they need to drive the highest standards. Glasner was right to point out the poor performance and warn against too many similar displays.

With Europa League football set to be a real test of their squad next season, Glasner needs backing if he is to take Palace to even greater heights. Your move, Steve Parish…

Is Salah still somehow under-rated?

This may seem an asinine question given he is rightly lauded and showered with all the individual accolades you could think of.

But speaking to a friend recently it was put to me that Salah may well be the greatest Premier League player ever. No 1. Top of the tree.

By that suggestion, perhaps normalising Salah’s extraordinary output each season is under-rating his legend.

On Sunday, Salah became the first player in Premier League history to finish a season with the most goals and assists and win the Player of the Season award.

He has also equalled Thierry Henry’s record of four Golden Boots and has now topped the charts for goals and assists in a single season twice, also doing so in 2021-22 when he scored 23 goals and assisted 13.

His goal against Crystal Palace also meant he matched the record for most goals and assists (combined) by a player in a single season, with 47.

Legend usually marinates long after retirement and that may be the case with Salah when all is said and done.

But for a player of his greatness, it still feels like we will look back and ask ourselves how we normalised such wonder with every passing week.

The gap from Championship to Premier League has never felt bigger

My first reaction when Sunderland defeated Sheffield United in the play-off final over the weekend was that, most likely, all three promoted sides will come straight back down.

That may seem a negative lens through which to view Premier League football but the harsh reality is that the gulf between the top flight and the second tier has never felt so vast.

Tottenham lost 22 league games this season and never looked in real danger of going down. In the end they finished 13 points ahead of third-bottom Leicester.

Leicester conceded 80 goals. Ipswich conceded 82 goals. Southampton conceded 86 goals. They combined to win a total of 12 games.

So, if I’m downbeat on the prospects of Leeds, Burnley and Sunderland, forgive me.

Two consecutive seasons of the promoted clubs going back down have destroyed my hope that teams can come up and realistically compete.

If 2025-26 is another repeat, drastic action will be needed to prevent from this being a closed shop once and for all.

AND FINALLY…

On the final episode of the ‘It’s All Kicking Off’ podcast I graded each Premier League team’s season across all competitions.

My colleague Ian Ladyman does not believe a 10/10 mark exists – I disagree and gave Liverpool and Slot that exact grade.

Shoutout to Newcastle and Crystal Palace… but Southampton, hang your heads in shame.