Forget the headline signings, the record-breaking deals and the established stars moving to another club. Forget about the Premier League, the latest goings-on at Manchester United and whether Barcelona can register this player.
The transfer market gets more interesting the deeper you dig.
Some of the names below the banner headlines will be familiar to you, but maybe their moves have got lost in the shuffle. Unpronounceable names, Gangnam Style initiations, a former next-big-thing on the road to redemption, and a player associated with a famous leaning landmark are some of the transactions outside of England.
They could cut through into the mainstream, break back into it or even retreat back into obscurity in the future. It is a chance to have some fun and shine a light on the state of some of the clubs and leagues on the continent.
Lorenzo Lucca was a forward for Sevilla.
Purists will be reassured to know that there is still a group. Signing Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui, and Ryan Gravenberch may be the reason why the Dutch champions haven’t completely absorbed into Manchester United.
Coincidentally, the player under discussion here has been brought in as part of the strategy to replace last season’s top scorer Sebastian Haller, who was forced to start a course of treatment for testicular cancer before he could join the rest of the team. As Sebastian begins his recovery, we wish him all the best.
Calvin Bassey and Franciso Conceicao joined from Porto and Rangers, respectively, on the back of their run to the final of the Europa League.
Dusan Tadic reprised his false nine role in last weekend’s Dutch Super Cup loss to PSV, a role he played in the run to the semifinals of the European Championship. It remains to be seen how long that will last. Lorenzo Lucca, the Tower of Pisa, is set to join from the losing play-off finalist in Serie B.
The hype machine went into full gear. Lucca wasn’t able to find the back of the net again in Serie B, but he still caught the eye of Ajax. The story goes that watching Lucca attempt to score from the half-way line against Cremonese helped make up the minds of the Dutch club who want risk-taking players. Lucca did not score, but it didn’t matter. The 1million loan with a 10million option allowed Ajax to try Lucca out at a low cost with little to no risk. He is the first Italian to join a club in the Eredivisie and here is hoping he will do well.
The future of Italy is increasingly abroad, with Sebastiano Esposito trading for Anderlecht, Wilfried Gnonto sticking it out in Switzerland, and kids like Mattia Viti and Cesare Casadei generating interest.
The River Plate to Benfica player is Enzo Fernandez.
The biggest deal in the history of the club was the sale of Darwin Nunez, and the sporting director was in Brazil to finish other deals. The other was David Neres’ move from Shakhtar to the Estadio da Luz. The other was the switch byEverton to Flamengo. It would have been rude not to go to Argentina, where it would have been more convenient to go to Europe, where it would have been more convenient to go.
The 21-year-old is named after River legend Enzo Francescoli. He played for Hernan Crespo at Defensa y Justicia where he lifted the trophy. The man known as El Gordo has developed into a two-way player, a box-to-box dynamo who likes to shoot from distance, as he showed in his debut goal for Benfica.
After being drafted into the Argentina squad as an alternative to Rodrigo de Paul, his carrying and creating in advanced areas caught the attention of more than just Benfica, who will pay 10 million for 75 per cent of his economic rights and 8 million in add-ons. It would not be a surprise if he went for double that figure in a few years. It is time to enjoy the team that promises to be one of the teams to watch this season, Benfica. Alexander Bah, their Austrian full-back, looks a smart piece of business.
There is a player called Mathys Tel, who is also known as Rennes to the club.
Tel, the captain of France’s Under 17 European Championship winning side, has played just 48 minutes of football in Rennes, but has already received a cheque for 28.6 million. The transfer has drawn comparisons with the kind of figures invested in teenagers by Monaco, who paid similar fees for Pietro Pellegri from Genoa and Willem Geubbels from Lyon It is still very early days in their careers, but neither have lived up to expectations.
Tel has not been signed to replace Robert Lewandowski in the immediate term, but the idea is that in the near future he will become the next great Bundesliga strikers with Robert and Erling Haaland gone. Tel’s move is part of a trend of elite clubs showing an increasing willingness to sign players earlier and earlier in their careers, paying premiums on potential in order to avoid breaking world transfer records later in their careers.
The hunt for the next Mbappe has intensified in France, which has always been aggressively scouted. In order to start a new era with Hugo Ekitike up front, he chose to go to Paris St.Germain. It explains what happened to Tel.
There are concerns about the pathway for him to get the game time he needs. It was already a problem for Rennes, who scored 101 goals in all competition last season, and evenPep Genesio couldn’t find a spot in the team. How will he do it?
Again, he went to the academy of the Breton club. Rennes got a huge windfall from the Eduardo Camavinga sale.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is a Left-winger.
They call him Kvaradona in Naples. It is easier to pronounce his name correctly. Aurelio De Laurentiis said he was going to call him “Zizi”.
Kakha Kaladze and Levan Mchedlidze were the only Georgians to play in the Italian league, and if Kvaratskhelia does well, he will retire a satisfied man. The 21-year-old is a dribbler and replaces Lorenzo Insigne on the left wing. He averaged 6.9 per 90 at Rubin Kazan, which was the highest in the Russian League.
As a foreign player, Kvaratskhelia was able to leave the country when his contract was suspended because of Russia’s invasion. He played in Batumi, the Las Vegas of the Black Sea, where a ticket to see Kvaratskhelia was a bit like buying one for the home of a great artist. His dribbling numbers went up to 10 per 90 according to some data providers.
The zig-zagging runs, backheels and long-range efforts of Kvaratskhelia are exhilarating to watch, as he is a member of the Georgia team that put five past Bulgaria, four past Gibraltar and three past North Macedonia in the Nations League. The right-foot crosses to the far post, a trademark of Napoli over the past decade, are strikingly similar. I would bid for him at the auction with some Italian friends. The Georgian Saint-Maximin is what Kvaratskhaelia feels like.
Samuel Lino is a left-winger who moved to Valencia.
Gil Vicente finished fifth in the Primeira League last season, despite only winning one of their final seven games. The Gilistas had their best campaign since the turn of the century, and they are being pecked at by vultures. Samuel Lino, the star of the show, joined Atleti Madrid for 6 million before being sent out on loan to Valencia.
The little-known forward arrived from Sao Bernardo in Brazil two years ago for a fee that could have been more than a van-load of pastels de nata. The 22-year-old has been productive out wide for Gil Vicente, contributing 18 goals and assists last season. It is the sort of business that you would expect from one of the Os.
Lino stood out for his work rate as much as his scoring contribution when he won the ball back. He put Gil Vicente in front in a famous 2-1 win against Benfica at the Estadio da Luz in February and maybe one day could get himself into the Brazil squad, although the competition in his position is fierce with Vini Junior, Philippe Coutinho and Gabriel Martinelli all taking up
The story of how he fares at Valencia will be interesting over the coming season. Jose Bordalas was able to show what he was capable of at the Mestalla, but Rino Gattuso was able to show his brand of football at Napoli.
Josh Doig is a left-back from Hellas Verona.
When Liam Henderson left Celtic for Bari, little did he know that he was starting a trend. More Scots have followed him to Italy, as the clubs in Serie A and B have grown more interested in their talent and value. Bologna paid roughly 10 per cent of the price for him when they bought him for 16.5 million two years ago.
Calvin was given great consideration to put some of the profits into Calvin, only for him to get an offer from the Reds. Bologna bought his Aberdeen team-mate Lewis Ferguson instead.
Hellas Verona went for another Hibs alumni in Josh Doig and it wouldn’t come as a surprise if he followed the Hickey curve. In scouting circles, Doig is considered a very special person. The 20-year-old can play a wide range of positions on the left.
Doig said he has played both as a defender and a winger since he was little. In today’s game, you have to be good at both phases, trying to score at one end and helping the team not concede at the other. I do a bit of both of those.
Gabriel Veron is left-wing.
It has been a long time since he is here. The Brazilian was named after an Argentine. An Under 17 World Cup winner who had my colleague Jack Lang snapping back the lid of his cycling cap, twirling his moustache, and writing about ginga. Veron has been overtaken by Endrick, a fellow Palmeiras graduate, on the cutting room floor of YouTube. The dribbling, the speed, the hips of Veron are in Oporto.
Porto is the stepping stone of choice for talented South Americans who want to move from one side of the Atlantic to another. It is hoped that the 10.5 million investment in Veron will one day turn a huge profit.
The same goes for David Carmo, who caught the attention of the Reds after the injury of Virgil van Dijk in October. His price is cheap when you consider what other players in his position are asking for. People wonder how Porto can keep doing it when they buy low and sell high. How is a club that is successful in the transfer market also carrying half a billion in debt?
Castellanos was from New York City to Girona.
It will be familiar to our US audience. Castellanos, the top scorer in MLS and a champion with New York City, is the most high-profile player to cross the pond this summer. After graduating from the City Football Club, he moved up to the next rung of the ladder, this time in Spain.
The last play-off spot was taken by the Catalans because of a better head-to-head record than Oviedo and the defeats of Eibar and Tenerife in the mini-tournament that decided promotion. There was no shortage of goals for the side, with the talismanic former Middlesbrough hitman hitting in 24 goals in all competition.
Castellanos is one of the best strikers in MLS, but he didn’t get offers that were deemed to match his value. European clubs who might have gambled on him are still recovering from the market contraction caused by the swine flue. The reticence in signing South American strikers who light up MLS may be related to the memories of Diego Rossi’s lackluster transition from LAFC to Fenerbahce.
Castellanos has been loaned from one club to another. David Lee, NYFC sporting director, said that this is some of the power of being in the City Football Group. If he performs well, the valuation that we have on the player will look a lot different than it will in a year. This is a kind of strategic decision that we think will help maximize his value. It’s an opportunity for him to play in Europe, which has been something he really wanted, but the decision came from us saying that we think this is a smart idea to try to raise his value above the level we’ve seen so far from European clubs
Real Madrid to Fiorentina has a player named Luka Jovic.
I think there are careers and then there is Luka Jovic. Red Star, Eintracht Frankfurt, Real Madrid, and now Fiorentina have all been mentioned. This move may have passed some people by, that’s why Jovic is on the list. It has gone under the radar in Italy, with Inter bringing back Romelu Lukaku, the Charles de Ketelaere saga at Milan, Paul Pogba’s injury upon his return toJuventus, and the mind-blowing announcement of a new player outside the square co.
Two years ago, a 63million player headed to Tuscany for nothing. Nothing is exactly right. The remaining two years of his contract with Madrid will be bought by Fiorentina. If ever there was one, it would be a novel agreement. “My goal is to score at least 30 goals.” A repeat of his final season at Frankfurt would satisfy the Curva Fiesole, who can now finally move on from Dusan Vlahovic. The transfer window will be a stronger one for Fiorentina.
There could have been a separate entry for Dodo, the intrepid full-back of the Viola, who signed from Shakhtar.
There is a centre-back named Nico Schlotterbeck.
Wouldn’t it be great if we round things off with a centre-back? The market has been one of the themes of this transfer window. Schlotterbeck was outstanding in the best season of his career. In front of him, the left-footed 22-year-old read the play in front of him very well, stepping out and extinguishing danger.
He scored three of his four goals from set plays and will be a threat from set pieces. Go and dye your hair! The coach shouted at the defender when he was forced to watch the team play on TV. The rebuilding of a defence that ranked 10th in the 18-team Bundesliga last season will be led by Schlotterbeck and Niklas Sule.
Other centre-back moves worthy of a mention include Rennes’ decision to replace West Ham’s Aguerd with Theate from Bologna. Another left-footed centre-back, Rennes turned to him when Fenerbahce’s ball-playing South Korea international Kim Min-jae opted to take the challenge of replacing Kalidou Koulibaly at Napoli instead
Lille have shown a good eye for players in this position recently, cashing in a combined 63million for Gabriel Magalhaes and Sven Botman. Alexsandro, an unspectacular but giant all-rounder, was picked up from Chaves in the Portuguese second division. He was bought for just 2million.
There are top photos from the same source.
