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Many players face a summer of uncertainty with contracts having expired and no clarity who they will be playing for next season, if at all.
There will be some 800 professional players out of contract in English football this summer, the majority, but not all, below Premier League level.
And it will definitely be a buyers’ market this year, with club budgets slashed because of the coronavirus, meaning squads may shrink – the EFL has discussed reducing first team squad sizes to just 20 senior professionals – and permanent pay cuts are on the horizon for many.
Some players have already begun to bombard potential employers with show reels, whilst management companies have been sending out extensive dossiers on their out-of-contract clients.
Despite this, there are likely to be a surplus of players at the start of next season who have not found a club, and some may be forced to drop down into non-league football, or to quit the game altogether.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.