Premier League 2025/26 in Football Manager – a massive, realistic simulation of every team transfer

A few days ago, I published an article where I managed every 2025/26 Premier League team through the transfer window. Rafael Leão moved to Arsenal, Bruno Fernandes headed off to Al-Hilal, and over £3 billion was splashed. But after going through all that, it didn’t feel right to leave it there. I had to see how the season played out.

So, I went on holiday in-game until just before the season kicked off, used the in-game editor to restore the correct managers to their clubs, and let the simulation run. The result? Four managers were sacked, the Champions League race went down to the wire, and two new signings broke into the top ten average ratings.

But what actually happened over this fascinating season? And, who knows, is it worth a cheeky bet on this being vaguely accurate? Let’s dive in.

Final Table

1. (C) Manchester City – 91 points
2. (UCL) Arsenal – 83 points
3. (UCL) Liverpool – 77 points
4. (UCL) Newcastle – 65 points
5. (UCL) Manchester United – 61 points
6. (UEL) Chelsea – 59 points
7. (UEL) Aston Villa – 58 points
8. (UECL) Everton – 58 points
9. Tottenham – 58 points
10. Brentford – 54 points
11. West Ham – 54 points
12. Brighton – 50 points
13. Bournemouth – 40 points
14. Crystal Palace – 39 points
15. Fulham – 39 points
16. Burnley – 35 points
17. Leeds – 34 points
18. Nottingham Forest – 32 points
19. Wolves – 28 points
20. Sunderland – 25 points

Manchester City stormed to the title, fuelled by a lethal trio of Haaland, Bernardo Silva and Rodrygo. Chelsea missed out on Champions League football on the final day, losing to West Ham while Manchester United beat Fulham to leapfrog them. Meanwhile, Everton experienced a miraculous revival under David Moyes, securing European football for the first time in years.

Burnley were rock bottom halfway through the season, but Scott Parker showed real steel to guide them to safety with 24 points from the second half alone. A brutal campaign for Nottingham Forest.They might’ve made Europe in real life, but in this sim, they went straight back down. Leeds, by the skin of their teeth, survived.

Unusually, only one promoted team went down. Progress?

Best players

Erling Haaland claimed the Golden Boot with 18 goals. But the chasing pack featured some wildcards. Gabriel Jesus also bagged 18 for Arsenal (he’s still massively overpowered in FM, let’s be honest), while Josh Sargent popped up with 17 for Fulham. Joshua Zirkzee ended with the same number of goals as Mohamed Salah (12). Yep.

Highest-rated player in the league? Bernardo Silva, with an outrageous 7.84. Rodrygo followed with 7.58, then Salah at 7.53. Jack Grealish had a resurgent season at Newcastle (7.39 – higher than Haaland), and Enzo Fernández topped the assists chart with 12.

New Chelsea signing Yeremy Pino deserves a shout too. He was brilliant, averaging 7.26. Here’s the top-rated player at each club:

• Manchester City – Bernardo Silva (7.84)
• Arsenal – Bukayo Saka (7.39)
• Liverpool – Mohamed Salah (7.53)
• Newcastle – Jack Grealish (7.35)
• Manchester United – Bryan Mbuemo (7.08)
• Chelsea – Enzo Fernandez (7.36)
• Aston Villa – Marco Asensio (7.41)
• Everton – Dwight McNeil (7.30)
• Spurs – Pedro Porro (7.10)
• Brentford – Keane Lewis-Potter (7.11)
• West Ham – Jarrod Bowen (7.27)
• Brighton – Kaoru Mitoma (7.21)
• Bournemouth – Justin Kluivert (7.03)
• Crystal Palace – Chris Richards (6.98)
• Fulham – Harry Wilson (7.11)
• Burnley – Marcus Edwards (7.28)
• Leeds – Mads Roerslev (7.14)
• Nottingham Forest – Alex Moreno (6.99)
• Wolves – Pablo Sarabia (7.10)
• Sunderland – Chris Mepham (6.91)

The Premier Division TOTY is: Alisson, Ben White, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, Josko Gvardiol, Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan, Enzo Fernandez, Phil Foden, Erling Haaland, Gabriel Jesus

Manager Movements

Four managers were shown the door.

• Manchester United sacked Rúben Amorim on 17 December and brought in Zinedine Zidane, who guided them to the Champions League. Not bad, Zizou.
• Wolves axed Vitor Pereira on 9 December, but Ralph Hasenhüttl couldn’t stop the rot.
• Nottingham Forest binned Nuno Espirito Santo on 29 December, replacing him with Gennaro Gattuso, who also failed to avoid the drop.
• Sunderland let go of Régis Le Bris on 17 February. Thiago Motta stepped in, but it was a case of too little, too late. That said, Motta should be a beast in the Championship.

Who won the other competitions?

FA Cup: Newcastle beat Chelsea in the final, winning their second trophy in two seasons.

Carabao Cup: Man City beat Spurs, reminding them that their recent Europa League run was a mere fluke.

Champions League: An El Clásico final, with Real Madrid beating Barcelona to lift their favourite trophy once again.

Europa League: Spurs reached the final… and promptly lost to Real Sociedad. Brutal.

Championship: Will Still led Southampton to the title. Leicester and Ipswich also came up. Yawn.

League One: Plymouth, Luton, and Bolton were promoted. (Fun fact: Luton had a 12-point deduction. Without it, they’d have hit 100 points.)

League Two: Cambridge, MK Dons, Swindon, and Bristol Rovers went up.

Final Thoughts

Manchester City’s dominance and Liverpool’s slight underperformance show that Football Manager might still be a touch biased toward how things looked a year or two ago, which is fair. But even with that in mind, there are plenty of wild outcomes here. Manchester United sneaking into the Champions League? That’s up there.

So… was this simulation realistic? Or total nonsense? Let me know in the comments.