Hello all, welcome back to the blog. Is it just me, or has the transfer window been boring recently? Going back to Winter 2024, let’s look at the biggest moves:
- Sacha Boey to Bayern
- Arthur Vermeeren to Atlético
- Kalvin Phillips to West Ham (Loan)
- Armando Broja to Fulham (Loan)
- Jadon Sancho to Dortmund (Loan)
While we saw PSG trigger Goncalo Ramos’ buy option and Vitor Roque join up with the Barcelona squad that month, both deals were agreed in the summer, and in a transfer window, neither should even be brought up amongst the biggest deals. In the deals that did happen that month, Sacha Boey only made two appearances for Bayern that season, Vermeeren, the one exciting deal that happen, was a failure. After just 152 league minutes in 6 months, Vermeeren was sold to Leipzig on a loan with an obligation to buy, and barely got time to settle in the Spanish Capital. Phillips, Broja, and Sancho flattered to deceive in their respective loan spells, notably Jadon Sancho, who while he had a few promising days that took fans back to his Dortmund prime of 2019 and 2020, didn’t achieve much.
The Summer of 2024 was also a bad summer for transfer deals, even if the Kylian Mbappe saga papered over it. The transfer had an incredible amount of hype, even if it was completed in early June, and the holdover from the anticipation masked that the rest of the window was the worst we’ve had in years. Apart from Mbappe, here were all the exciting transfers from 2024.
- Julian Alvarez to Atlético was an exciting deal that shook up La Liga.
- Man Utd stealing Leny Yoro from Real Madrid was entertaining, I wrote a post about that.
- Victor Osimhen going to Galatasaray came out of nowhere.
While you could include other decent deals, like Michael Olise to Bayern, Dani Olmo to Barca, Desire Doue or Joao Neves to PSG, and MAYBE Douglas Luiz to Juve or Mattijs de Ligt to Man Utd, it was a quality of window much less than that of summers previous. Look at the summer of 2021 for instance;
- Messi made a shock move to PSG after being forced out of Barca
- Cristiano Ronaldo made a dream return to Man Utd after getting tired of Juventus
- PSG signed Donnarumma, Hakimi, and Ramos to pair with Messi, revitalizing their squad
- United finally signed Jadon Sancho after a 2-year long transfer saga
- City broke the English transfer record to bring in Jack Grealish
- Chelsea broke the 100m mark to bring in star man Romelu Lukaku
- Madrid made statement moves for both David Alaba and Eduardo Camavinga
This is incredibly clear of the comparatively stale 2024 summer, and winter 2025 wasn’t any better. Besides a PSG move for Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Man City spending spree to try and turn around their season, there wasn’t much to talk about. Well, this summer is about to change all of that. June hasn’t even began yet, the Premier League season hasn’t even closed, and we still have so many big transfers in the works.
Early in 2025, Trent Alexander-Arnold’s move to Real Madrid was essentially confirmed, and now is completed. Madrid also signed and announced Dean Huijsen before confirming the exit of Luka Modric this week. Man City confirmed the exit of stalwart Kevin de Bruyne, who looks set for Napoli now, Martin Zubimendi, after years of indecision, has finally agreed to leave Real Sociedad for Arsenal, Liverpool’s replacing Trent with star Leverkusen fullback Jeremie Frimpong, and Jonathan Tah’s decided not to wait for Barca and join Bayern instead.
This is just the beginning. Let’s go through some major names who have been linked with moves away this summer, and see where they may end up.
Florian Wirtz
Club: Leverkusen
Age: 22
Position: AM
Interested: Liverpool, Bayern
For those uninformed, the Florian Wirtz transfer saga was quietly a corker. Leverkusen’s star man who impressed at the Euros and who’s looking for a true mega-name club to see him finally reach his full potential has had no end of interest in recent years. Real Madrid, as they usually do, had shown silent interest in the player for some years, but then after the announcement of Kevin de Bruyne’s departure, Man City led the race. He’d be a nautral replacement for the Belgian, seemingly.
However, toward the beginning of May they suddenly dropped interest, reportedly because they’d been told that he had his heart set on Bayern. Wirtz, paired with Jamal Musiala and feeding Harry Kane in Bavaria would surely be an unstoppable attack. However, somehow, that was also not meant to be. Last week, it was reported that out of nowhere, Wirtz had told Bayern that he’d chosen Liverpool as his next destination, as the Reds look for a face for their long term project under Arne Slot, with Mohamed Salah turning 33 next month. It’s been reported that a deal should cost up to 150 million euros, a fee which would make him the third most expensive player ever, behind PSG’s moves for Neymar and Kylian Mbappe in 2017. The deal is sure to be the face of the summer of 2025, and a tone-setter for the rest of it.
Luis Diaz
Club: Liverpool
Age: 28
Position: LW
Interested: Barcelona
Staying in Merseyside, Liverpool may be about to lose a key attacker after gaining one. Liverpool will need to gain some serious funding for a third-most-expensive ever move for Florian Wirtz, and Luis Diaz may be just what they need for it. Diaz has had a successful spell at Anfield, with 64 goal contributions in 141 matches since joining for 54 million euros three and a half years ago. Barcelona have been linked with Diaz for some time, and are targeting him as they look to ride off 24/25’s momentum.
A deal would be incredibly expensive, with numbers ranging from 101 million euros from England to 71 in Spain, and Liverpool doesn’t seem incredibly keen. “I admire Lamine Yamal”, said Arne Slot in response to being asked of Barca’s admiration of Diaz in a recent interview. The finances will also be a major sticking point for Barcelona, as they look to bolster other positions as well, and are just starting to return to SOME normality. This deal is sure to linger for a while this summer.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Club: Al-Nassr
Age: 40
Position: ST
Interested: Wydad Casablanca, Monterrey
Our third potential deal takes us out of Europe completely, to clubs in Asia, Africa, and North America. On a recent stream with IShowSpeed, FIFA President Gianni Infantino confirmed that there were talks for Cristiano Ronaldo to join Leo Messi at the inaugural tournament of the Club World Cup’s new format. Despite Al Nassr’s failure to qualify, there are clubs interested in adding the Portuguese to their squad for the tournament.
In Africa, Moroccan Wydad Casablanca are the team most linked to signing the legendary striker, and in North America, Mexican Monterrey are looking to add Ronaldo to a squad already featuring Sergio Ramos for the tournament. Any deal that happens would be a 1-month loan, and the clubs would have to seriously convince Al Nassr to give up their star man for some time after the end of the Saudi Pro League season.
Rafael Leao
Club: AC Milan
Age: 25
Position: LW
Interested: Arsenal, Bayern
A man who has been linked with a move away from Milan for some time has been Rafael Leao. Over the years, he’s been linked to Barcelona, Man City, but this summer may just be the year he finally makes his move. Arsenal, who’ve been linked to every attacker under the sun this summer, but Leao may be a good fit. His pace would terrorize Premier League defences, and take some weight off Saka. However, on Bayern, he’d complete a nasty attacking quadrant, where he’d be paired with Harry Kane, Michael Olise, and Jamal Musiala. Without European football in 25/26 should he stay in Milan, Leao can finally take that next step in his career, but will he?
Alexander Isak
Club: Newcastle
Age: 25
Position: ST
Interested: Liverpool, Arsenal
A player who’s been in constant transfer rumours for the better part of a decade between Dortmund, Sociedad, and Newcastle, Alexander Isak’s move to a top European club has just eluded him for his career so far. He’s been linked to many, such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, PSG, but now Liverpool and Arsenal are in the hunt for him. Both looking for a star striker to lead their project for the future, and Isak, despite having a massive price tag, would be perfect.
Rodrygo
Club: Real Madrid
Age: 24
Position: RW
Interested: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City
Rodrygo’s been an interesting name in the press in recent months, especially in Spain. With Madrid’s new “Galacticos” project revolving around Vini, Bellingham, and Mbappe, it’s pushed Rodrygo to the background, and most knew it was only a matter of time until it backfired on Madrid. There have been reports of the Brazilian being unhappy in Madrid, and clubs are now swarming around his signature. Nearly every serious English club wants him, and this has the potential to be one of the most entertaining stories of the summer.
That’s all we’ll do for today. The 2025 Summer Transfer window promises to finally be the end of a trend of some boring transfer windows, and finally see some exciting transfers again. Maybe, just maybe, prime transfer window feels are back.