Gareth Southgate believes it is “very unlikely” the transfer window will kick into life until after the European Championship has finished, at least as far as England players are concerned.
With the Premier League season having concluded on 23 May, attention has already turned to the summer’s potential incomings and outgoings.
The rescheduling of Euro 2020 means it will not exactly be business as usual, with countless players away on international duty in June and July.
Those left behind will be able to move clubs more freely once the transfer window begins, though Southgate conceded he “can’t control conversations that are going on in private” regarding his England troops.
The window formally opens on 9 June and clubs will be able to operate in the market for 12 weeks from then on.
Of course, deals can be agreed in principle before that, but such transfers will not be official until the window is open. Deadline day falls on 31 August this year and all moves must be completed before 11pm.
The Premier League confirmed it will “align with other European leagues” to avoid English clubs having to complete their business before their counterparts on the continent. Yet that means the window will still be in operation when the new season kicks off on 13 August.
The Football League campaign begins a week earlier on 7 August. Last season, top-flight clubs were given an extension to do deals with EFL teams, but no announcement to that effect has been made yet this time around.
The deals to look out for
Harry Kane
Kane has been making noises about leaving Tottenham, but Southgate’s comments were a call for the England captain to focus on Euro 2020. The striker will command a fee in excess of £120m, which puts Manchester City in pole position.
Erling Haaland
One man who will not rest this close-season is so-called ‘super-agent’ Mino Raiola, who has already been on a whistle-stop tour of Europe with Haaland’s father. Borussia Dortmund could be forced to cash in on the 2020 Golden Boy with the club badly affected by the lost revenue of the last year. Barcelona, City and Real Madrid have all been linked.
Lionel Messi
Messi is now cutting a far happier figure than he was under the presidency of Josep Maria Bartomeu. With 38 goals in all competitions in 2020-21, the 33-year-old is able to leave Barcelona for free at the end of his contract – though the imminent signing of his close friend Sergio Aguero could well be a ploy which convinces him to stay.
Paul Pogba
Raiola made it public earlier this season that Pogba would look to move on from Manchester United this summer. That talk has died down since, but the Frenchman’s future is never far from the minds of the Red Devils’ hierarchy.
Georginio Wijnaldum
Wijnaldum’s Liverpool contract will expire in June and he is expected to move away from the Premier League, despite Jurgen Klopp’s attempts to keep him at Anfield.
Jack Grealish
It’s far from a certainty that Grealish will leave Aston Villa, but he has attracted enough suitors in his two seasons back in the Premier League. While the playmaker missed much of the second half of the most recent campaign through injury, he is still an attractive prospect for the likes of Manchester United and Tottenham, both of whom have monitored him in the past.
More on the Premier League
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- The making of Everton’s versatile defender whose rise surprised even his own manager
- Hall: Martial is running out of chances to prove he is part of the future at Man Utd
- The Czech ‘warriors’ who rose from obscurity to fire West Ham into European contention
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3fRXSr6
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