Number of Ireland players in Premier League set for record low this season

The number of Republic of Ireland players in the Premier League is set for an all-time low in the 2026/27 season.

Only seven Irish players featured in the English top flight last season. That number could rise to 12 this season, but it is more likely to drop to five.

The 2025/26 return included a combined 30 minutes from former Everton captain Séamus Coleman and Newcastle United defender Alex Murphy.

The 22-year-old Murphy has been loaned to Kaiserslautern in the Bundesliga second division while Coleman left Everton after 17 years to find regular game time ahead of Ireland’s run-in to Euro 2028.

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Matt Doherty clocked 787 minutes at Wolverhampton Wanderers but the 34-year-old will continue his career at Sheffield United in the EFL Championship.

That leaves the established trio of Caoimhín Kelleher and Nathan Collins at Keith Andrews’s Brentford – where Damien Duff has joined the backroom staff – and Jake O’Brien at Everton, although the Liverpool Echo described the ongoing use of the Cork man at right back as a “6ft 6in square peg in a round hole”.

Mark Travers, Ireland’s third-choice goalkeeper behind Kelleher and Gavin Bazunu, might also drop down to the Championship from Everton – where Middlesbrough are reportedly interested – having only played in the League Cup last season as England number one Jordan Pickford is not for budging.

Jake O'Brien of Everton during the pre-season friendly against Bolton Wanderers. Photograph: Alex Livesey/Getty Images

The high-water mark of the early 2010s, when 30-odd Irish players accumulated over 40,000 minutes in the Premier League are numbers that seem consigned to history. Reaching double figures is far from guaranteed.

Ipswich Town currently list club captain Dara O’Shea, Kasey McAteer, Jack Taylor and Chiedozie Ogbene in their first-team squad. In reality, O’Shea is the only one of them expected to feature regularly as Taylor struggled to earn a start in the Championship, while McAteer and Ogbene could be loaned or sold before the transfer deadline on September 1st.

Dara O'Shea of Ipswich Town during a pre-season friendly against Rayo Vallecano at Portman Road. Photograph: Keeran Marquis via Getty Images

After an injury-hampered few years, Ogbene seems certain to rebuild his career elsewhere, either in the Championship, where West Bromwich Albion are reportedly interested, or at a European club.

McAteer could remain at Portman Road but he will struggle to make the matchday squad ahead of Norwegian winger Sindre Walle Egeli, Ghanian international Abdul Fatawu and Paraguay’s World Cup star Julio Enciso.

Brighton and Hove Albion maintain a link to Irish football with Evan Ferguson, Eiran Cashin and Mark O’Mahony on their books although none of them are expected to feature in Fabian Hürzeler’s plans.

Ferguson will not return from his latest ankle surgery until October, with vague reports in Italy linking him to Genoa. Cashin might seek a fresh loan move having spent last season at Blackburn Rovers. O’Mahony is listed in the club’s under-21 squad.

John Egan turns 34 in October but his 42 appearances during Hull City’s unexpected promotion via the playoffs, having finished sixth in the Championship, allayed concerns about an injury profile that left him searching for a club in 2024 as he recovered from a ruptured Achilles’ tendon.

John Egan of Hull City lifts the Championship Playoff trophy. Photograph: Alfie Cosgrove via Getty Images

Egan’s Premier League experience at Sheffield United is valued, although Hull’s Turkish owner Acun Ilıcalı has loosened the purse-strings to sign Senegalese centre half Nobel Mendy for a club record of around €24 million.

Sunderland could make use of Alan Browne’s versatility in the Europa League although there remains a possibility that the 31-year-old will be loaned to Preston North End again, or possibly Blackburn.

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There remains an outside chance of the recently capped Rory Finneran making his debut for Newcastle United and a giant leap might come from George King at Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest’s Grady McDonnell or Manchester United midfielder Jack Moorhouse.

It is more likely that all three will continue to develop on loan to Championship or League One clubs like Tottenham Hotspur striker Mason Melia, who has already joined Lincoln City.

Shamrock Rovers teenager Victor Ozhianvuna will complete his €2 million move to Arsenal in January.

Irish in the English Premier League