The Reason why the Promoted Teams are Struggling in the Premier League

It looks like for a consecutive season, all three promoted sides from The Championship to The Premier League will be heading straight back down, and whilst this is causing many questions about the quality gap between the PL and the Championship, however, the main focus should be on the recruitment of these clubs and how they all have failed to recruit in one key sector.

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That key sector has been recruiting experience and players who are ready and know what it takes to play consistently at the top level and deal mentally with the pressure of a relegation battle, with newly promoted clubs nowadays seemingly recruiting young players in hope they reach their potential rather than buying ready made players.

Before getting into anything, it's worth noting just how bad the promoted teams have been the past two seasons, with Luton, Burnley and Sheffield United all going down last season with 26 points and under and this season 31 games in, only Ipswich have reached the 20 points mark.

To show how bad these teams have been this season, Wolves were in the relegation fight at the halfway point of the season, sitting 1 point above Ipswich and 2 points above Leicester after 19 games and since that point, Wolves have picked up 16 points, whilst Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton combined have picked up just 12.

Lets get into the recruitment of the promoted teams as this season combined, Ipswich, Southampton and Leicester have a combined spend of £300 million and many of are still wondering where that money has gone as probably only Liam Delap is the notable new signing who has had a massive effect for any of the three teams.

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For an indicator of experience we are going to use is 100+ appearances in the European top 5 leagues and for the past two seasons, the promoted teams have certainly failed to recruit players that fit into this category, especially if you compare it to the year prior in which Bournemouth, Fulham and Nottingham Forest stayed up and are now all fighting for European places.

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Lets go through one by one, Leicester signed 3 players with over 100 appearances in Europe's top 5 leagues, Jordan Ayew, Bobby Decordova-Reid and Odsonne Edouard, in which they have combined for just 22 starts this season and 5 goals and 2 assists, so even their experience players haven't had an impact.

Southampton signed more experienced players but other than Aaron Ramsdale, who has started 23 PL games, Adam Lallana, Ryan Fraser, Charlie Taylor and Maxwel Cornet have combined for 12 PL starts with Lallana the only player with a goal contribution with 2 assists, so again they have signed experienced players but they have barely played.

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Ipswich in the summer didn't sign a single player with 100+ appearances in Europe's top 5 leagues but in January they did sign Ben Godfrey on loan who is experienced, but in the 2 games he's played in the PL, they've conceded 10 goals.

This is really damning on the recruitment teams of these clubs as they hadn't learned from the teams in the previous season who failed to recruit also on experience players.

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The previous season Luton signed Ross Barkley, Andros Townsend and Tim Krul, Burnley brought in Nathan Redmond and Sheffield United signed Tom Davies and Mason Holgate, and by looking at these names, it's no surprise that they all went down with only Luton putting up a real fight.

To show how poor these recruitment teams have done, lets look at the season before and how well Bournemouth and especially Fulham and Nottingham Forest brought in experience to help them survive.

Nottingham Forest brought in Moussa Niakhate, Remo Freuler, Jonjo Shelvey, Chris Wood, Willy Boly, Andre Ayew, Wayne Hennessey, Jesse Lingard, Cheikhou Kouyate, Kaylor Navas and Sergie Aurier.

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This is a great example of what promoted teams should do, as a lot of these players have been moved on, in the first season, they helped pick up the points here and there which was so valuable to Forest's safety coming down to the wire.

Bournemouth signed Neto, Jack Stephens and Hamed Junior Traore and Fulham signed Andreas Pereira, Willian, Issa Diop, Sasa Lukic, Bernd Leno, Shane Duffy, Cedric Soares.

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Compare the experienced players brought in by these 3 teams to the other 6, with Fulham, Forest and Bournemouth no just signing very experienced players across Europe's top 5 leagues, but players who have done it at the the very highest level in the Champions League as well and you wonder why these teams have struggled so much.

You can tell the experience difference by the amount of points dropped from winning positions from the promoted teams, with Southampton dropping 23 points, Ipswich 20 and Leicester 7.

To show just the difference in playing time in recruited experience players was, this season they have combined for 5161 minutes, in 23/24 they combined for 4910 minutes and in 22/23, they combined for 25605 minutes, which is over 2.5x the amount of the following two seasons combined.

Something Russell Martin said on the Rest is Football with Gary Lineker related to just how difficult inexperience can bring, as he said he had to convince half the squad they are good enough as they've never played in the PL before and he had to convince the other half they were good enough despite being relegated just a year before.

This is where experience, both in the dugout and on the pitch is vital as for all 6 of the last promoted clubs, they've either had a manger who'd never been at the PL level before or players, and in some cases, both.

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In conclusion, the struggle of newly promoted teams in the Premier League underscores the critical importance of experience in recruitment and that despite significant investments, clubs like Ipswich, Southampton, and Leicester have faltered due to a lack of seasoned players who can handle the demands of top-flight football.

This contrasts starkly with successful examples from previous seasons, where clubs like Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth, and Fulham strategically acquired players with extensive European and Champions League experience, bolstering their chances of survival.

As the gap between the Championship and the Premier League widens, the lesson remains clear: without the right blend of talent and experience, even substantial financial backing may not suffice to secure top-tier status.