With the transfer window just open and with Liverpool and Manchester United having spent somewhere in the region of £40 million on two English U21 internationals. One could almost be forgiven for forgetting about the small number of players who have been released from the respective clubs on free transfers.
Each facing the very real prospect of never playing again.
Here is the full list of all 123 players released from duty by Premier League clubs following the 2010/'11 season.
(Prominent players in bold)
Arsenal
Thomas Cruise, Roarie Deacon, Mark Randall
Aston Villa
Durrell Berry, John Carew, Ellis Deeney, Calum Flanagan, Harry Forrester, Arsenio Halfhuid, Isaiah Osbourne, Robert Pires, Nigel Reo-Coker, Moustapha Salifou
Birmingham City
Marcus Bent, Lee Bowyer, Sebastian Larsson, James McFadden, Mitchell McPike, James O'Shea, Stuart Parnaby, Kevin Phillips, Daniel Preston, Luke Rowe, Robin Shroot, Maik Taylor
Blackburn Rovers
Jordan Bowen, Jason Brown, Zurab Khizanishvili, Benjani Mwaruwari, Michael Potts, Maceo Rigters
Blackpool
David Carney, Daniel Coid, Ishmel Demontagnac, Rob Edwards, Jason Euell, Marlon Harewood, Richard Kingson, Malaury Martin, Paul Rachubka, Andy Reid, Salaheddine Sbai
Bolton Wanderers
Tamir Cohen, Johan Elmander, Ricardo Gardner, Joey O'Brien, Jlloyd Samuel, Samuel Sheridan
Chelsea
Samuel Hutchinson, Carl Magnay, Danny Philliskirk, Jan Sebek, Michael Woods
Everton
Kieran Agard, Hope Akpan, Nathan Craig, Gerard Kinsella, Lee McArdle, Iain Turner
Fulham
Zoltan Gera, Edward Johnson, Diomansy Kamara, John Pantsil, Matthew Saunders
Liverpool
Jason Banton, Deale Chamberlain, Douglas Cooper, Sean Highdale
Steven Irwin, Nikola Saric
Manchester City
Javier Garrido, Scott Kay, James Poole, Shaleum Logan, Andrew Tutte, Javan Vidal, Patrick Vieira, James Wood
Manchester United
Conor Devlin, Owen Hargreaves, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Edwin van der Sar
Newcastle United
Sol Campbell, Shefki Kuqi, Patrick McLaughlin
Stoke City
Abdoulaye Faye, Eidur Gudjohnsen, Ibrahima Sonko
Sunderland
Michael Kay, Nathan Luscombe, Daniel Madden, Robert Weir, Nathan Wilson, Mvoto Jean-Yves, Bolo Zenden
Tottenham Hotspur
Jonathan Woodgate
West Bromwich Albion
Giles Barnes, Marcus Haber, Dean Kiely, Abdoulaye Méîté
West Ham United
Anthony Edgar, Holmar Eyjolfsson, Daniel Gabbidon, Lars Jacobsen, Filip Modelski, Jonathan Spector, Adam Street, Matthew Upson
Wigan Athletic
Steven Caldwell, Daniel De Ridder, Joseph Holt, Jason Koumas, Thomas Lambert, Thomas Oakes, Francis Pollitt, Abian Serrano Davila
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Adriano Basso, Jody Craddock, John Dunleavy, Marcus Hahnemann, David Jones, Nathan Rooney
