'Win the league' Leeds United warning, expected exits and promotion chance of 'big three' rivals

With just under seven weeks left until the start of the new season, the recently relegated Whites are 8-1 second favourites to win the division, marginally behind Leicester City. Quite whether that judgement is justified will likely depend largely on events of this summer as Leeds with their manager hunt in a period that is sure to feature huge movement on the playing staff front.

Yet it's a similar sort of tale at the teams regarded as next season's key promotion contenders although there is already a quiet confidence at 'big three' rivals Leicester, Southampton and Middlesbrough.

Relegated trio Leicester, Leeds and Southampton and also Boro form the first four in the betting market for next season's division, by some distance with both Norwich City and Watford next behind Boro but at 16-1.

Boro are 10s, just behind Southampton (8s), Leeds (8s) and market-leaders Leicester. But have the odds compilers got it right? Time will tell but for now, Leeds United writer Lee Sobot caught up with three journalists who cover the rival 'big three' to see how they are looking.

Leicester City: Owynn Palmer-Atkin, BBC Sport Leicester

Leicester City are at the beginning of what is set to be a huge summer of transition. Relegation wasn’t something the club were anticipating at the start of last season, and it has left them in a bit of a mess.

With the highest wage budget ever to get relegated, a projection to lose two-thirds of their income and seven players already leaving at the end of their contracts, it puts the Foxes on the back foot.

Leicester will be bracing themselves for the departure of several other first team members, with big interest in players like James Maddison and Harvey Barnes already. You’d expect several others to move on to, such as Kelechi Iheanacho, Timothy Castagne and Wilfred Ndidi.

When you look at the squad Leicester have now, and take away the other players likely to leave, it’s clear that this squad will be completely decimated. However, the mood around the club right now is perhaps as high as it has been for some time. A new manager is through the door in Enzo Maresca, who joins from Manchester City after spending time as Pep Guardiola’s assistant manager. The risk of this kind of appointment has pleased fans, who will be looking forward to seeing a recreation of Manchester City’s style, with an Italian twist, at King Power Stadium.

He has a big old job on his hands though, rebuilding an entire squad, stamping authority and a gameplan, and taking Leicester back to the Championship at the first attempt. This is an exciting opportunity though for any manager looking to prove themselves, as the chance to rebuild a club like Leicester in this way, doesn't come around all that often.

Southampton: Alfie House, Daily Echo

Despite the delay in officially appointing a manager, Southampton’s owners are confident ahead of the new season and have set out their ambition to win the league – or at least get promoted – as quickly as possible.

Although there is expected to be significant player turnover with the likes of James Ward-Prowse, Kyle Walker-Peters and Romeo Lavia likely leaving, most of their 14 signings under the new owners have been made with a view to the future and have shown in flashes they can be influential.

They will also be one of the bigger spenders in the division if needed to be and will recoup most of it in sales, while still offsetting the turnover loss of dropping out of the Premier League. Saints were so far off the pace in the Premier League and should have been relegated weeks or months before they finally were, and there has been huge change at boardroom and leadership level too. They have appointed a new director of football and head of recruitment already but still have a few more staff to get in, not including Russell Martin and his coaching staff, with an announcement likely soon.

It’s whether the decisions Sport Republic have made and will make are good ones that will decide the direction of the season. Last campaign, they were not good. Anything outside the top six will be deemed a failure but supporters don’t feel that an instant bounce-back is guaranteed by any means.

Middlesbrough: Dominic Shaw, Northern Echo

There was undoubtedly a sense of a big missed opportunity for Middlesbrough after their play-off defeat to Coventry City, but they're still very well placed to bounce back and come again next season.

Michael Carrick has worked wonders on Teesside. Boro were just outside the relegation zone when he arrived in October and looked destined for a season of struggle but he transformed the team and at one stage they looked capable of catching Sheffield United and winning automatic promotion.

They ultimately came up just short but with Carrick now preparing for his first summer and full season in charge, it's no surprise at all to see Boro fancied by the bookies as one of the favourites to win promotion.

The big challenge this summer will be replacing the Premier League loanees who returned to their parent clubs. Zack Steffen, Ryan Giles, Aaron Ramsey and Cameron Archer all had a big impact at the Riverside.

But chairman Steve Gibson will back his boss and Carrick and head of football Kieran Scott are on the same page when it comes to transfers and who they want to bring in this summer. Star midfielder Hayden Hackney has Premier League admirers but he'll be going nowhere. Last season's Championship top scorer Chuba Akpom only has a year left on his contract but he's happy at Boro and the club are calm about his situation.

Boro and Carrick will need to deal with a sense of expectation next season but the head coach never had any problems with that during his playing career. As the play-off pain eases, there's real excitement on Teesside ahead of next season.