Ten Players Who Could Still Transfer in Europe This Weekend
While the English transfer window may have closed, in France, Spain and Germany it will stay open until the end of the month, Saturday 31st August. This means that there is still time for some surprises and the potential for some major headlines. Here is a look at the top players who could still move in Europe this week.
Christian Eriksen
Christian Eriksen is Tottenham Hotspur’s playmaker, but they now need to make a decision about his future. Either they sell him and he is gone, or they keep him and he has to start. In the meantime, without any firm decision, Eriksen has been staying on the bench and Spurs have been suffering.
At this point, it is possible that Erkisen would prefer to stay and wait until next summer, when he will be able to walk away from Spurs to a club of his choosing. However, club chairman Daniel Levy will be keen to avoid losing a player who was recently valued at £60 million for nothing next summer. Even if it means selling him at a cut price, it still makes more sense than waiting.
The question is, where could he go? It seems that Real Madrid are more interested in chasing other players. There is a chance that Atletico Madrid may take him for a bargain price. Otherwise, it seems that Eriksen may have to stay where he is.
Neymar
There are only two certainties about Neymar’s current position. First, that he definitely wants to leave Paris Saint-Germain, and secondly, that Real Madrid and Barcelona cannot afford to buy him.
Neymar, who still holds the title of world’s most expensive player, has pretty much destroyed all his relationships at PSG, and while his exit may not come at a time planned by the team, they are determined to make the best of the situation.
Neither Real Madrid nor Barcelona have the cash to buy him outright, so their only strategy is to offer PSG their lesser players and hope that one of them does the trick. Barcelona have now had four offers rejected, the latest of which involved Ousmane Dembele, the £135 million forward they purchased as a replacement for Neymar in 2017. While PSG will know that keeping Neymar is not a sensible solution, they will still hold on for as long as possible in order to get the most they possibly can for him.
Alexis Sanchez
Following the lack of progress in talks with Inter Milan, Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solkskjaer made it sound last weekend as if Alexis Sanchez could still have a future with the club. However, most agree that the sensible thing would be to sell him now, even if it means taking a hit.
There is no chance that Sanchez is going to reverse his poor form of the last year and a half just because United are not happy with the money being offered. If he stays on this season then he will likely continue in much the same vein, as a symbol of the club’s poor management. There seems to be very little advantage to keeping him on.
There is still a great deal of interest in Sanchez from Inter although there is fresh doubt following Anthony Martial’s thigh injury. With only a few days remaining of the transfer window, this is definitely one to watch.
Shkodran Mustafi
Arsenal have long been in need of central defensive reinforcements and brought David Luiz in on deadline day to replace Laurent Koscielny. While this has gone a long way towards plugging the hole, they are still not safe. Nonetheless, many believe that Unai Emery should still get rid of Shkodran Mustafi as soon as possible. Just last week Emery told Mustafi, and Mohamed Elneny, that they should find new clubs as soon as possible for the good of their careers. However, very few clubs have come forward with offers for Mustafi and they are unlikely to do so while Arsenal asks £25 million for him. If he is to go before the end of the month, then it seems likely that Arsenal will have to lower their asking price.
Mauro Icardi
It certainly seems as if Inter Milan are taking their time over getting rid of Icardi, who ideally should have been sold weeks ago. Last weekend the player’s wife and agent claimed that he “has received offers that no player would turn down, but Mauro has said no for Inter”. She also said that Antonio Conte is “one of the best coaches in the world”, but it would seem as if the admiration does not go both ways.
Conte reportedly told Icardi that he does not feature in his plans, and his recruitment of Lukaku (and possibly Alexis Sanchez) adds weight to this argument. There have been reports of Juventus and Napoli making a move for the player, but interest from Roma has faded and Icardi does not seem to be interested in Monaco.
Paulo Dybala
Many believe that Paulo Dybala does not really want to leave Juventus, but that the team are determined to sell him. Manchester United were not convinced that he really wanted to move to England and Tottenham Hotspur couldn’t accommodate his demands on deadline day.
Some thought that he would be snapped up by PSG, with Neymar likely on the way out, Dybala would be an excellent big name replacement. However, it seems that this is not happening and his agent recently said that there are no plans for a trip to Paris.
Juventus are still open to offers for the player, but it is looking less and less likely that an offer will arrive that both player and club are happy with. However, Juventus want to recruit another attacker, so this may spur them to work harder at finding a buyer for Dybala in the coming days.
Mario Lemina
A month before the Premier League transfer window deadline Lemina spoke about his desire to leave and admitted at the time that he may have caused irreversible damage for himself at Southampton. It seems that he was right, with the team banning him from the first-team dressing room.
Despite him being linked with teams such as Manchester United, Arsenal, Wolverhampton and Leicester City, no offer came for him, and now he has to hope that an offer comes from Europe otherwise he faces being stuck at Southampton.
However, there does seem to be some interest. Monaco were thought to have agreed terms, until Southampton changed them, inserting an obligation to buy at the end of a season-long loan deal. Roma are also known to be interested, as are Celta Vigo and Lyon. As a result, there is still a good chance that he could move in the next few days.
Marcos Rojo
Marcos Rojo is probably sixth or seventh in the pecking order for Manchester United, and maybe third when it comes to the left-back spot. As a result, the team would be very happy to let the Argentina defender leave, but it is proving difficult to attract an offer. It makes the decision to give him a new £130,000 a week contract last year even more confusing. He can’t be relied upon to stay fit and when he is fit, his defensive play is far from brilliant. The new contract makes it much harder to sell him, but there is a chance that United will receive an attractive loan offer for him in the next few days.
James Rodriguez
At the beginning of the summer, it seemed certain that James Rodriguez would be sold, even if Bayern Munich decided against keeping the player they have borrowed for the last two season. Real Madrid need to raise funds and as Rodriguez has been away for two seasons, it made sense for the team to sell him.
However, Real Madrid’s efforts to raise funds have pretty much failed. They hoped to sell five players to raise enough to buy Paul Pogba, but only Dani Ceballos has departed, and that was on loan. Instead, both Rodriguez and Gareth Bale were brought back to start for Real Madrid last weekend.
The window is about to end in embarrassment for Real Madrid, something that Florentino Perez will do his best to avoid. However, they will have to sell or swap to buy, and Rodriguez is one of the few players attracting interest. Atletico and Napoli are interested, while there are reports that PSG may be interested as part of a Neymar deal.
Bruno Fernandes
Bruno Fernandes has been one of the most talked about players in this transfer window. While he didn’t go to United or Tottenham, it does not mean that he won’t move. There has been far less talk about him since the English transfer window closed, but Fernandes has made it known that he is still interested in a move.
Over the weekend he scored a hat trick in Sporting Lisbon’s 3 – 1 win over Portimonense. At the start of the summer Sporting were willing to sell him for the right price, possibly to Napoli or Atletico Madrid, and there is still a chance that a move may happen.
