Premier League 2025/26: We pick the most exciting arrivals as the new season kicks off

What’s the best thing about the start of the new Premier League season? Well, the fact that there’s Premier League football to watch again after the break, of course. But really, it’s the possibilities. Oh, the endless possibilities. At this point, fans truly believe that anything is possible.

And why not? Last season was one of the most unpredictable for years: Liverpool coach Arne Slot winning the title in his first season, Man City going through a bizarre period of poor form, Nottingham Forest in the top four for half the campaign, Man Utd and Spurs floundering towards the bottom while progressing in Europe… Could anyone have confidently forecast anything that happened in 2024/25?

So it’s an exciting time of year for fans – and a huge part of that is the anticipation of seeing some thrilling new stars in the Prem. Whether your team have splashed the cash on a big signing or not, the chance to watch an intriguing unknown talent is a rush. Here, we’ve picked the players we’re looking forward to seeing in the Premier League for the first time in 2025/26.

Well, we’ll be seeing plenty of these players, since there are now more Premier League games live on TV than ever before. Sky Sports will show live matches on Friday night, Saturday teatime, Sunday afternoon, Monday night and every other fixture that isn’t a 3pm Saturday kick-off. So this season, for Sky Sports customers, it’s going up from 128 to at least 215 live Premier League matches – that’s 80% of all televised games. Plus you’ll get another 52 live matches if you subscribe to TNT Sports, which has the lunchtime Saturday fixtures and two full midweek rounds during the season.

And remember, you can follow every twist and turn of the season on TV and wherever you are with the Sky Sports app and with TNT Sports on the Virgin TV Go app. See below for details.

Across Sky Sports and TNT Sports, you can enjoy the battle for the Premier League title, the push for European qualification, the fight against relegation and everything in between. It all begins on Friday 15 August – here are the biggest live TV games in August.

Liverpool v Bournemouth
Friday 15 August, 6.30pm, Sky Sports Premier League/HD (CH 512/502)

Manchester United v Arsenal
Sunday 17 August, 4pm, Sky Sports Premier League/HD (CH 512/502)

Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur
Saturday 23 August, 11am, TNT Sports 1 HD (CH 521)

Newcastle United v Manchester United
Bank Holiday Monday (25 August), 6.30pm, Sky Sports Premier League/HD (CH 512/502)

Leeds United v Newcastle United
Saturday 30 August, 5pm, Sky Sports Premier League/HD (CH 512/502)

Liverpool v Arsenal
Sunday 31 August, 4pm, Sky Sports Premier League/HD (CH 512/502)

Scroll down to find even more live Premier League action in the month ahead. Premier League matches will also be available in HDR on Sky Sports UHD and TNT Sports Ultimate (CH 525) for those with HDR-enabled TVs, giving you superb picture and sound. TNT Sports subscribers can access the matches in HDR at no extra cost. Scroll down to find out more.

They’re new to the Premier League, they cost millions of quid and they’re going to light up English football over the coming season – here’s our pick of the summer arrivals.

We’re not just talking about the English and German record £116 million fee that Liverpool shelled out to capture Wirtz’s signing. Did you know Wirtz is the youngest player to score for Germany at the men’s European Championship? Or that he scored Germany’s fastest international goal (after seven seconds against France in 2024)? Wirtz collects records wherever he goes. The former Bayer Leverkusen man is a thoroughly modern forward, at home in any attacking position, with all the requisite skills and then some as well as the all-important calm temperament.

Most fans will tell you buying players from the Portuguese league is a risk. For every Cristiano Ronaldo, there’s a Helder Postiga. But Gyökeres’ figures are impossible to argue with: 97 goals in 102 games for Sporting, and more than a goal a game in Primeira Liga matches. And although he’s new to the Premier League, he spent two seasons banging in goals (40 of them) for Coventry City, so he knows his way around English grounds and defenders. Arsenal have finished runners-up for three consecutive years and most experts have been saying a prolific striker would push them over the line. Gyökeres fits the profile perfectly.

A lot has happened at Chelsea since Gittens’ time in the club’s youth system way back in the mists of time (the early 2010s). They’ve signed about 350 players, apart from anything. But the England Under-21 international’s journey via Reading, Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund has shaped him into an exciting and effective winger and, although the Blues are well stocked for attacking players to say the least, we’re expecting him to secure a place in the starting XI and create chances aplenty. The irony is, if he’d stayed with Chelsea’s academy, they’d probably have sold him this summer for the book-balancing pure profit.

After 10 years, six Premier League titles and countless other honours, Kevin De Bruyne certainly won’t be easy to replace. But in Cherki, City know they’ve got a player with all the skills to do so. Aged just 21, he’s already made 185 appearances for his hometown club Lyon, who’ve been relying on him for goals and chances (he topped the Ligue 1 assist table last season) since his first-team debut in 2019. Genuinely two-footed, he’s an exceptional dribbler and visionary passer with an eye for goal, and City will think they’ve got a bargain at £30.5 million.

While Sunderland fans will be disappointed they never saw Jobe Bellingham wear red and white in the Premier League, Diarra will help them forget the Bundesliga-bound Brummie. Just 21 himself, he’s been a mainstay of the Strasbourg team since his debut aged 17, and will bring dynamism and skill to the Black Cats’ midfield. The Senegal international has also demonstrated leadership and maturity – as Strasbourg boss Liam Rosenior said when appointing him club captain in 2024: “For him to be captain at his age says a lot about his character and mentality… He’s going to have an amazing career. He’s been magnificent in my time working with him.”

Don’t believe the propaganda about how Ekitike “failed” at PSG – in a team that was a mess at the time – or that he’s only had one good season. As an 18-year-old he scored 10 in 24 Ligue 1 games for Reims and after signing for Eintracht Frankfurt, he bagged 26 across a season and a half in all competitions. There were eight assists too, and it’s his all-round skillset that catches the eye: hard-working and physical, he’s got a fantastic touch and a Thierry Henry-esque ability to cut in from the left and score spectacular goals. Ask his Liverpool team-mate (for now) Harvey Elliott, who was in the England Under-21 side on the end of a hat-trick from the Frenchman in March, if Ekitike is overrated.

Lyon-born like Cherki, Barry took a very different route, going in search of the best opportunities to play and learn around Europe. From Belgium to Switzerland to Spain, he’s scored everywhere – and what must have caught Everton boss David Moyes’s eye is that all his 11 La Liga goals for Villarreal last season were first-time finishes. Everton put in a lot of crosses and with the six-foot-five Barry on the end of them, the Toffees’ “goals for” column will surely look very healthy. At £27 million, we reckon he could offer more goals to the pound than any other new signing. No relation to Gareth, as far as we know.

Along with Atalanta and Napoli, Bologna have been breaking the dominance of Juventus and the Milan clubs in Italy recently and Switzerland winger Ndoye has been integral to that rise, not least when he scored the winner in the Coppa Italia final in May. Pacy and direct as well as skilful, Ndoye looks tailor-made not just for the Premier League but for Nuno Espírito Santo’s fast-breaking Forest side in particular. The sale of Anthony Elanga for £55 million and acquisition of Ndoye for £34 million, as well as convincing Morgan Gibbs-White not to leave, will reassure Forest fans that the club are operating smartly and will continue onwards and upwards.

Aston Villa v Newcastle United
Saturday 16 August, 11am, TNT Sports 1 HD (CH 527)

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Manchester City
Saturday 16 August, 5pm, Sky Sports Premier League/HD (CH 512/502)

Chelsea v Crystal Palace
Sunday 17 August, 1pm, Sky Sports Premier League/HD (CH 512/502)

Nottingham Forest v Brentford
Sunday 17 August, 2pm, Sky Sports+

Leeds United v Everton
Monday 18 August, 6.30pm, Sky Sports Premier League/HD (CH 512/502)

West Ham United v Chelsea
Friday 22 August, 7pm, Sky Sports Premier League/HD (CH 512/502)

Arsenal v Leeds United
Saturday 23 August, 5pm, Sky Sports Premier League/HD (CH 512/502)

Crystal Palace v Nottingham Forest
Sunday 24 August, 2pm, Sky Sports+

Everton v Brighton & Hove Albion
Sunday 24 August, 1pm, Sky Sports Premier League/HD (CH 512/502)

Fulham v Manchester United
Sunday 24 August, 4pm, Sky Sports Premier League/HD (CH 512/502)

Aston Villa v Crystal Palace
Friday 29 August, 7pm, Sky Sports Premier League/HD (CH 512/502)

Chelsea v Fulham
Saturday 30 August, 11am, TNT Sports 1 HD (CH 527)

Brighton & Hove Albion v Manchester City
Sunday 31 August, 1pm, Sky Sports Premier League/HD (CH 512/502)

Nottingham Forest v West Ham United
Sunday 31 August, 2pm, Sky Sports+

If you watch TV on our Virgin TV 360 box or Stream box, you can access Sky Sports+ by pressing the red button on your remote (not the Record button) on any Sky Sports channel. You can also use the Sky Sports app (available free to all Sky Sports subscribers) to get all the live sport available on Sky Sports+, with the added bonus that you can watch wherever you are in the UK, as long as there’s WiFi, 3G or 4G.

If you watch on our TiVo^® box or V6 box (powered by TiVo), you can watch Sky Sports+ on CH 508 in HD (or SD on CH 518) or the Sky Sports app but you can’t get full access to Sky Sports+ on the red button. If you want to, it’s super-simple to upgrade your Virgin TV box. Just contact us on 0345 454 1111.

If you’re an existing broadband customer who wants to add a TV package to your subscription, find out more about them here.

Virgin TV customers who subscribe to Sky Sports can watch on the go with the Sky Sports app. Not only will you be able to take your Sky packages with you, but you get in-depth sports coverage, as well as exclusive videos and interviews. On iPad and Android tablets you can also access Sky Sports’ cutting-edge second-screen functions. Download from the Apple app store for iPad or iPhone, or from Google Play.

Download the Virgin TV Go app from the Apple app store

Download the Virgin TV Go app from Google Play

Download the Virgin TV Go app for Windows 10

Don’t have Sky Sports? You can find out about our Sky Sports package and upgrade, including Sky Sports UHD for Premier League matches with HDR, here.

You can upgrade to our Virgin TV Maxit package online via your My Virgin Media account here and get all four TNT Sports channels in HD. This includes TNT Sports Ultimate for Premier League matches with HDR. If you’ve not registered for My Virgin Media or have forgotten your sign in details just head over to myvirginmedia.com.

If you’re a TNT Sports subscriber you can watch on the Virgin TV Go app even when you’re on the move. The app is available to all Virgin TV customers at no extra cost and is compatible with Android, iOS, Windows 10 and PC/Mac. Get downloading (from the links below) and you’ll be one step closer to watching what you want, when you want.

Download the Virgin TV Go app from the Apple app store

Download the Virgin TV Go app from Google Play

Download the Virgin TV Go app for Windows 10