Premier League clubs can start making changes to their playing squad for the second half of the 2024/25 season following the reopening of the transfer window. New Year's Day marked the first day of the winter market and it looks set to be a very interesting month in the Premier League.

Not only did Wednesday represent a key date in the calendar in regards to incomings and outgoings, it is also important when it comes to some players potentially securing deals for the 2025/26 season and beyond. For those Premier League players now in the final six months of their contract, the start of January means they can commence talks with foreign clubs about a possible pre-contract agreement.

It is very much a topic in the headlines right now as Real Madrid are very keen on luring Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold to the Santiago Bernabeu in the summer. Arne Slot's Liverpool side are in quite the predicament heading into the final few months of the season as they face the prospect of losing key trio Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk on free transfers if their contract situation does not change before the end of June.

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They are not the only big-name players who could exit for nothing come the summer, though. Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne are in a similar boat at Manchester City, Son Heung-min will also soon be out of contract at Tottenham and Amad Diallo is in the final few months of his Manchester United contract.

The same cannot be said about Enzo Maresca's Chelsea. Whereas the vast majority of Premier League clubs all have contract situations to resolve, the Blues only have one player out of contract in the summer.

The player in question is goalkeeper Lucas Bergstrom. The Finnish shot-stopper has yet to make a senior appearance for the Blues but he has been on the substitutes' bench in five of Chelsea's UEFA Conference League games this campaign.

Bergstrom does have Robert Sanchez and Filip Jorgensen ahead of him in the pecking order right now and it's hard to see how he breaks into Maresca's team going forward. Bergstrom last signed a one-year contract with the west London club last February at the same time he joined Swedish club IF Brommapojkarna on loan.

As he is now in the final six months of his Chelsea deal, Bergstrom is now allowed to speak to foreign clubs about a contract for next season. At a time when a number of clubs are in a quandary where they could be set to lose some key players for nothing, Chelsea are not in the same position due to their decision to hand players long-term contracts in the capital.

In terms of the players out of contract in 2026, goalkeepers Marcus Bettinelli and Kepa Arrizabalaga will soon be in the final year of their contract and Alfie Gilchrist's deal also expires the same summer. However, Chelsea do have an option in the young defender's deal to extend it by a further year.