Leeds United’s Kalvin Phillips, Huddersfield Town’s Lewis O’Brien and Hull City duo are facing big decisions this summer - Stuart Rayner

All play for clubs they love – in all but O’Brien’s case, their hometown clubs – but all face difficult choices before 11pm on September 1.

Had Leeds United and Hull City been relegated, it might have been easier for Phillips, Lewis-Potter and Greaves – for the sake of their careers, they would have little choice but to leave. If Huddersfield Town had won their Championship play-off final on Sunday, O’Brien would have had a cast-iron excuse to remain with a club he has been a part of since the age of 11.

Phillips, one of the best players at last summer’s European Championships, is worthy of the Champions League stage and there seems little doubt O’Brien, Lewis-Potter and Greaves will play Premier League football. The question is how long they wait or whether they really believe – as they want to – they can get there without having to switch clubs.

At 26, Phillips is the oldest and furthest on in his development – it is not parochialism to say he is one of Europe’s best midfielders, which is why the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United and Aston Villa are frequently mentioned as suitors.

O’Brien, 23, has shown his qualities in three Championship seasons, not only as a versatile player valuable anywhere in midfield or down the left but also as a captain when Jonathan Hogg was injured. But had either referee Jon Moss or his video apologist – sorry, assistant – Paul Tierney recognised Max Lowe’s penalty-area foul on him at the weekend, he might have got what he most wanted – the chance to play in the Premier League for Huddersfield. He could well be weighing up the coming months’ transfers to decide if it is worth one more try.

Phillips could be thinking similar. It is hard to imagine life under Jesse Marsch – or any coach – being quite as thrilling as playing for Marcelo Bielsa but the swift signing of Brenden Aaronson suggests Leeds are eager to progress. More are inevitable, possibly even from Salzburg, with right-back Rasmen Kristensen linked.

Colchester-born, Rochdale-raised but taught his football in Huddersfield, O’Brien is a Terrier. Ask him about Leeds’s interest last summer when the Whites were way off Huddersfield’s valuation, and he always stresses how pleased he was to sign a new contract on the back of it. They are just words, and it is thought the new deal has a release clause, but he never played like someone whose head was turned.

Hull’s Lewis-Potter and Greaves are further back still – the former in England’s under-21 squad, the latter an injury call-up to March’s squad.

The seemingly genuine Premier League interest in Lewis-Potter is unlikely to stretch to owner Acun Ilicali’s proclaimed £30m-plus asking price. Greaves may need more games before the top division becomes a genuine possibility.

That Jarrod Bowen is on the verge of an England debut after a similar jump from free-scoring Championship winger with Hull to Europa League star with West Ham United is encouragement to Lewis-Potter if the chance comes.

On the other hand, anything could happen once the showman that is Ilicali starts signing cheques in the transfer window. These promise to be exciting times for Hull, and Lewis-Potter and Greaves might be loathe to turn their back on them.

Not that it is all down to them. All four are under contract and just as with Raphinha at Leeds, their clubs only need sell them for more than they are worth. If they get those sort of bids and the players want to go, hopefully they will do the decent thing by young men who have served them well.

For all four, it is about timing.

Last summer Jack Grealish decided to give up captaining the Aston Villa team built around him for a bit-part at Manchester City, on the bench for the title-clinching final Premier League match of the season and April’s visit of Liverpool, and yet to start a European Cup knockout tie. But he still got 31 starts, a league winner’s medal and a season’s-worth of coaching from Pep Guardiola. If he learns from it, those big starts will come.

A glance at this weekend’s England squad – with Kyle Walker, John Stones and Harry Maguire again prominent – shows Yorkshire is churning out good footballers. Claiming Leeds-born Erling Haaland would be cheeky, but James Milner, Jamie Vardy, Mason Holgate and Dominic Calvert-Lewin are pretty handy too.

Where we are letting them down is the platform to show what they can do. It is even worse in the women’s game.

Phillips, O’Brien, Lewis-Potter and Greaves would love the chance to stay with the clubs they love. If only it were that simple.