Longest-serving players
You’ll often hear fans bemoaning the lack of loyalty in the modern game, but there are a handful of players who have been at the same Premier League club for over a decade now. Other sides have only kept hold of a current squad member for a maximum of five-and-a-half years, but that probably says more about the club’s approach to recruitment than the player’s loyalty.
In this slideshow, we reveal each Premier League team’s longest-serving player and find out which footballer has been with his current employers for the most amount of time.
20. Tommy Smith, Huddersfield (5 years, 4 months)
Huddersfield’s captain spent eight years on the books of Manchester City as a youngster, before joining the Terriers when he was released by the then-Premier League champions in 2012. Smith made his debut for Town the following year and remains an important part of the first-team squad today, having helped the club earn promotion from the Championship in 2016/17.
Smith has now played 177 games for Huddersfield and is contracted at the John Smith’s Stadium for another two-and-a-half years. A reliable performer who’s approaching his peak, the right-back will probably stick around for a while longer yet.
19. James Ward-Prowse, Southampton (5 years, 7 months)
Academy graduate Ward-Prowse made his Southampton bow as a 16-year-old in October 2011, but his first league appearance for the club didn’t come until the 2012/13 campaign. That means the midfielder has only really experienced life in the Premier League, with Saints currently in their sixth successive season in the top tier.
Born in Portsmouth to a family of Pompey fans, Ward-Prowse has now made 192 appearances for their bitter rivals down the coast. He’s still only 23 and appears to have little interest in seeking pastures new, so the one-time England international could rank much higher on a future edition of this list.
18. Thibaut Courtois, Chelsea (6 years, 6 months)
Courtois only made his maiden Chelsea appearance in 2014, but he’s actually been on the Blues’ books since 2011. The Belgian goalkeeper spent three seasons on loan at Atletico Madrid before playing for his parent club, who eventually decided he was ready to replace Petr Cech as first-choice shot-stopper shortly after Courtois turned 22.
17. Jordan Henderson, Liverpool (6 years, 7 months)
Henderson could have left Liverpool just one year into his Anfield career in 2012, with then-manager Brendan Rodgers lining the midfielder up for a transfer to Fulham. The England international rejected the move, however, and set about demonstrating why he deserved a sustained run in the Northern Irishman’s side.
The 2013/14 season saw Henderson establish himself as a regular, the ex-Sunderland man playing 37 league games as Liverpool came close to winning the title. He’s featured in 262 matches for Liverpool overall, but has just a single League Cup winner’s medal to show for it.
16. Troy Deeney, Watford (7 years, 6 months)
Watford’s club captain was signed from Walsall for just £250,000 back in August 2010, with Deeney making the step up from League One to Championship. The striker contributed only two goals in his debut season at Vicarage Road, but he improved as time went on and was firmly established as the team’s talisman by the time of their promotion to the Premier League in 2014/15.
Adrian Mariappa has actually spent more time as a Watford player overall, but the fact that his eight years and four months are split across two spells makes Deeney the club’s longest-serving footballer.
12= Paul Dummett, Newcastle (7 years, 7 months)
Local lad Dummett only made his first senior appearance for Newcastle on the opening day of the 2013/14 season, but he’s been on the club’s books for seven years and seven months in total. Almost ever-present as Rafael Benitez’s side gained promotion to the top tier in 2016/17, the left-back has suffered an injury-hit 2017/18 restricting him to five of the Magpies’ first 23 Premier League league games.
The defender had been linked with a move away from his boyhood club, but Benitez appeared to rubbish those stories when he said in November that “people don’t realise how important a player he is”.
12= Dean Marney, Burnley (7 years, 7 months)
Marney is out of contract in summer 2018 and may even depart Turf Moor in the January transfer window, which would bring seven years and seven months of loyal service to an end. The former Tottenham midfielder signed for the Clarets in May 2010 and was a frequent starter in his first four seasons at the club, culminating in the Lancastrians winning promotion in 2013/14.
Marney has struggled to nail down a regular place in the first XI since then, though, but he’s still appeared in over 200 matches during his time as a Burnley player.
12= Marc Pugh/Harry Arter, Bournemouth (7 years, 7 months)
Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe remains heavily reliant on a number of players who represented the Cherries in the lower leagues, with Pugh and Arter the longest-serving members of a group which also includes Steve Cook, Charlie Daniels, Simon Francis and Andrew Surman.
Both men moved to Dean Court in summer 2010, Pugh signing from Hereford and Arter joining from Woking. They have since made a combined 552 appearances for Bournemouth, who have risen from League One to the Premier League during the duo’s time on the south coast.
12= Lewis Dunk, Brighton (7 years, 7 months)
Brighton-born centre-half Dunk played three games on loan to Bristol City in 2013, but he’s otherwise spent his entire career at his local club: indeed, he predates the move to the Amex Stadium. The 26-year-old was involved in three unsuccessful play-off campaigns in the Championship before the Seagulls finally made it into the Premier League in 2016/17, when Chris Hughton’s side finished second in the standings.
Dunk’s partnership with Shane Duffy has been integral to Albion’s approach in 2017/18, with the former having played every minute of every game at the time of writing.
11. Vincent Kompany, Man City (9 years, 5 months)
Fitness problems have significantly limited Kompany’s playing time in the last few seasons – just 34 league appearances since summer 2015 – but he’s been a fantastic servant to City since his arrival in 2008. The Belgian defender even arrived at the Etihad Stadium before Sheikh Mansour – although the Abu Dhabi United Group’s takeover was close by the time Kompany signed on the dotted line in late August.
The former Anderlecht and Hamburg stopper has played 321 times for City in his near-decade at the club, winning a pair of Premier League titles, two League Cups and the FA Cup. With injuries continuing to keep him out, though, it would not be a surprise if 2017/18 was Kompany's final season in Manchester.
10. Aaron Ramsey, Arsenal (9 years, 7 months)
Ramsey may have only celebrated his 27th birthday in December 2017, but his 10-year anniversary of signing for Arsenal is on the horizon. The Welsh midfielder swapped the Cardiff City Stadium for the Emirates in summer 2008, with his competitive debut coming in a Champions League qualifier with Twente in August of that year.
9. James Morrison/Chris Brunt, West Brom (10 years, 5 months)
Morrison and Brunt both signed for West Brom in August 2007, with the former arriving at the Hawthorns a week before the latter. Both players shone as Tony Mowbray’s men won the Championship title in their first seasons at the club, but neither was able to stop West Brom sinking back to the Championship the following campaign.
Another promotion was secured in 2009/10, though, and the West Midlanders have remained in the top flight ever since. In the last 10 years and five months Brunt has played 358 games for the Baggies, Morrison 317; they've played under eight "permanent" Albion managers and another four caretakers.
7= Ryan Shawcross, Stoke (10 years, 6 months)
Shawcross has been ever-present throughout Stoke’s current stint in the Premier League, having helped the Potters into the top tier during a season-long loan spell from Manchester United in 2007/08. Manager Tony Pulis made the defender’s contract permanent the following summer, with Shawcross going on to play 29 games as the club avoided an immediate relegation back to the second tier.
7= Danny Rose, Tottenham (10 years, 6 months)
It looked as if Rose might be sold by Mauricio Pochettino after his outspoken comments about Tottenham’s transfer policy in summer 2017, but the England international stayed put in north London and has now spent more than a decade at the club.
The left-back began his career at Leeds but didn’t make a single first-team appearance for the Yorkshire outfit before joining Spurs as a 17-year-old in 2007. After loan spells at Watford, Peterborough, Bristol City and Sunderland, Rose became a regular at White Hart Lane in 2013/14 and has now played over 150 games for the capital club.
4= Phil Jagielka, Everton (10 years, 7 months)
The signing of Michael Keane and emergence of Mason Holgate seemed to signal the end for Jagielka in summer 2017, but the 35-year-old has still managed to play 19 times for Everton in the first two-thirds of the season. The central defender arrived at Goodison Park in summer 2007, having just featured in every Premier League game for Neil Warnock’s Sheffield United the previous campaign.
Jagielka didn’t exactly hit the ground running on Merseyside, but over time he proved himself to be a reliable presence in the heart of the backline. He’s now played 368 matches for the Toffees, but that still isn’t enough for a place in the club’s top 20 all-time appearance-makers.
4= Andy King, Leicester (10 years, 7 months)
King spent time in Chelsea’s academy as a youngster, but Leicester are the only club he’s represented since turning professional in May 2007. He made his debut for the Foxes later that year, but was unable to prevent the team slipping into League One despite possessing the second-best defensive record in the Championship.
The midfielder missed only one game as Leicester bounced back at the first time of asking, before later helping Nigel Pearson’s men into the top flight in 2013/14. King may not have been a regular starter in the extraordinary Premier League title triumph two seasons later, but he still made 25 appearances as the East Midlanders swept to glory.
4= Angel Rangel, Swansea (10 years, 7 months)
Swansea certainly find themselves in a difficult situation at present, with new boss Carlos Carvalhal tasked with dragging the Welsh outfit out of the Premier League relegation zone. Rangel is better placed than most to put the team’s current struggles in perspective, though; after all, when he joined the club 10 years and seven months ago the Swans had just missed out on a play-off place in League One.
3. Michael Carrick, Man United (11 years, 6 months)
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson chose Carrick as Roy Keane’s ideal replacement in summer 2006, when the midfielder moved to Old Trafford from Tottenham for an initial fee of £14m. Although stylistically different to Keane, Carrick quickly made his mark at United, playing 33 games as the Red Devils won the Premier League in his debut season.
The former West Ham man has been involved in four more title triumphs at United, and has also won the Champions League, the Europa League, the FA Cup three League Cups. He looks to be approaching the end now, though, with Carrick’s contract set to expire in June.
2. Mark Noble, West Ham (13 years, 1 month)
West Ham fans have long treasured their ‘Academy of Football’ nickname, even if it’s mainly used by supporters of the club rather than those on the outside. Noble may not be as good a player as the likes of Bobby Moore, Martin Peters, Geoff Hurst, Rio Ferdinand or Frank Lampard, but it’s still impressive that the former youth-teamer has been part of the Hammers’ first-team squad for over 13 years.
Noble has played 419 games for his boyhood club since making his debut against Southend in August 2004, including 37 when Slaven Bilic’s side qualified for the Europa League in 2015/16.
1. Julian Speroni, Crystal Palace (13 years, 7 months)
There was no such thing as YouTube or Twitter when Speroni moved from Dundee to Crystal Palace in summer 2004, and current team-mate Tim Fosu-Mensah had not long started primary school.
The Argentinian goalkeeper was dropped by Iain Dowie after some shaky performances in the Eagles’ first few Premier League games, and had to wait until the 2007/08 campaign to establish himself as first choice at Selhurst Park. Speroni hasn’t looked back since then, though, winning four Player of the Year awards and helping Palace rise from Championship also-rans to Premier League mainstays.
