The January window has only just closed, with more than £620 million spent by teams in Europe’s major leagues, but the biggest clubs are already preparing for what could be the most spectacular summer of transfers with Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, Paul Pogba and maybe even Cristiano Ronaldo ready to switch clubs at the end of this season.
January was not without some eye-catching moves, with Dusan Vlahovic’s €70m transfer from Fiorentina to Juventus proving to be the most expensive deal, ahead of Ferran Torres’s £46.3m switch from Manchester City to Barcelona.
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But the biggest players only tend to become available in the summer window, and the race to sign the best talent is likely to be more competitive than ever before. That’s not just because of the players that are expected to move but also because the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be held in the winter, meaning an earlier start so clubs will have to get their business done quickly to have players available at the beginning of the 2022-23 season.
Some players, including Mbappe and Pogba, go into this summer as free agents and able to decide their own future without two clubs having to negotiate a transfer fee. There are others, such as Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, who will have just 12 months remaining on their contracts and will be in a strong position to push for a move or lucrative new deal.
Then there is Haaland, the Borussia Dortmund forward who is wanted by all of Europe’s top clubs and available for €75m due to a release clause in his contract with the Bundesliga team.
So, as some of the biggest stars prepare to move this summer, what is the latest on their futures?
The free agents
There are several top players entering free-agency at the end of this season, including Chelsea’s Antonio Rudiger, Juventus forward Paulo Dybala and Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele. But the biggest…
Source : espn
