Hello all, welcome back to the blog. It is currently June 9th as I write this. The Premier League hasn’t even been shut for 2 weeks, the Champions League final still hasn’t been played, and I have a headache from this window. Let me take you through all you need to know for this window. Breaking down the big moves, talking about the less talked about moves, looking at what’s to come, and seeing my bold predictions for this window.
Let’s start with what’s already happened. Many highly talked about moves and sagas have come to an end. The two big ones were Lionel Messi and Jude Bellingham’s transfer sagas, which unfolded almost as badly as it could from Barcelona’s point of view. Jude Bellingham rejected a half-dozen offers from England to become the future of Real Madrid’s midfield, setting up quite the future alongside Federico Valverde, Aurélien Tchouameni, and Eduardo Camavinga. He became the 14th 9-figure transfer in history, the second in 2023 after Enzo Fernández’s January Chelsea move, and Real Madrid’s third 9-figure transfer.
Then, confirmed in the same morning as the Jude Bellingham deal, Leo Messi joined Inter Miami on a free transfer after Barcelona didn’t do enough to sign him. It was a heartbreaking move to say the least, and one that has thrown Barca’s summer plans into a state of improv with 2 months until the new season starts. The move for Inter Miami and the MLS will be massive, without a doubt orders of magnitudes bigger than the David Beckham move to LA Galaxy. It will be more akin to Pele’s move to the New York Cosmos, rather than the Beckham move.
The MLS really needs that move for popularity, because otherwise they would probably fall in appeal to the Saudi Pro League, perhaps they already have. This league has gone on a madness in 2023, signing some of the world’s biggest stars this window, and offering to many more. After signing CRISTIANO RONALDO at the start of the year to Al Nassr, they got Karim Benzema to title-holders Al Ittihad, it looks like N’Golo Kante will also move there, and they are also trying to convince Riyad Mahrez, Ángel Di María, David de Gea, Luka Modric, Sergio Ramos, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to go there. It’s only a matter of time before they look at stars like Neymar, Raheem Sterling for their league. Maybe they could even go after players like Federico Valverde or Victor Osimhen. The way the Saudi Pro League does their business is different. The Saudi government offers money for players to join their league, and then the players pick which government-funded team to join. The Saudi Pro League has 4 Government-funded teams; Al Nassr, Al Ittihad, Al Hilal, and Al Ahli, who was just promoted back to the league after being relegated in 2022. The 3 teams stealing headlines are of course, Al Nassr, Al Ittihad, and Al Hilal, Al Nassr for the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo, Al Ittihad for Benzema and Kante, and Al Hilal for their failed attempt at Leo Messi’s signature. This is the biggest the league has ever gone, and in my opinion the biggest any league outside Europe has gone on signings in one year. The Chinese Super League never got to this level, The MLS never went this crazy in one summer, neither have the Brazilian Serie A nor the Argentine Liga Profesional. This isunprecedented, and it’s just the start.
With these things all happening, it’s been hard to focus on much else, but some fairly good-sized deals have happened. Alexis Mac Allister has signed for Liverpool for 42 million, Joao Pedro has signed for Brighton for 34 million, and a few other players have confirmed they will leave their club on frees. Those aren’t the biggest moves, sure, but mind you it’s still June 9th.
What is still to happen? Pretty much everything. Liverpool still has to revolutionize their midfield, Chelsea need to improve after a dismal last season, Barca need to become Champions League contenders, every club needs something this window. As the window continues, I will provide coverage of many big stories, and I can’t wait for the ride.
With that said, here are my bold predictions for the 2023 Summer Transfer Window.
- Bayern will have a midfield revolution after selling Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka, entering the race for midfielders in August. Sadly, there will only be scraps left, signing Khephren Thuram after his Liverpool move collapses and give Ryan Gravenberch a chance.
- Harry Kane will stay at Spurs this summer as Daniel Levy once again demands too much. Bayern and Man Utd sign someone else, and Madrid decides to wait for Mbappe.
- Saudi Arabia signs at least 5 more world stars after confirming the signing of N’Golo Kante starting with the signing of Riyad Mahrez.
That’s all I wanted to blabber to you about today. Hopefully the transfer window hasn’t peaked quite yet, hopefully we still see quite a bit more business, in any case, the dealings done in the last 2 weeks will be talked about for quite a while. I’m Jim James, until next time.