With Euro 2024 over, the interest now pivots to the domestic game and the transfer window with four weeks before Premier League football returns.
So what better way to make the transition than with a team of players who nudged themselves to the front of the shop window in Germany…
Goalkeeper – Giorgi Mamardashvili (Georgia)
Statistically the best goalkeeper this summer, Mamardashvili saved Georgia 4.1 goals according to the quality of chances faced. But hell, just use your eyes: Mamardashvili was a one-man brick wall who was repeatedly pictured being mobbed by teammates after thwarting supposedly higher-class opponents. Having missed only one La Liga game in the last two seasons for Valencia, Mamardashvili was linked with Newcastle United before the tournament. Fair to say that the asking price has gone up since.
Right-back – Stefan Posch (Austria)
Only right that we credit Bologna’s influence on this tournament, and both of their full-backs make this team. Austria shone brightly at Euro 2024 despite their last-16 exit, topping a group containing France and the Netherlands. Posch played every minute of their campaign, assisting their only goal of the knockout stages. Having signed from Hoffenheim for just €5m in 2023, he would be a fine option for any mid-table Premier League club. West Ham, perhaps, replacing Vladimir Coufal?
Left-back – Michel Aebischer (Switzerland)
Another nation who shone brightly but left earlier than we anticipated; another team who used a Bologna full-back to excellent effect. Aebischer moved to Serie A from Young Boys in 2022 for €3m, and could surely be targeted for a fee only several times that now. He scored and assisted during the 3-1 win over Hungary that opened Switzerland’s tournament and then assisted Ruben Vargas’ tie-clinching goal against Italy in the last-16. Aebischer could play at left-back or as a wing-back – that makes him an attractive option.
Central defender – Jaka Bijol (Slovenia)
Nottingham Forest have already been strongly linked to Bijol, and you can see why. He’s 6ft 3in tall, has already played club football in four different countries (including Champions League experience) and has 53 senior international caps. Bijol impressed in Germany, with Slovenia conceding only twice in their four matches, and reports suggest that Italian champions Inter Milan are keen to recruit him. The last few weeks may just have set up the rest of his career.
Central defender – Merih Demiral (Turkey)
There were doubts about the ability of Saudi Pro League players to cope with the intensity of a European Championship but, in fact, the lesser demands of that league appeared to leave several fresh for this summer. Demiral signed for Al-Ahli last summer, but at just 26 would surely be interested in returning to a high-profile European league. He’s played Champions League football for two different clubs (Atalanta and Juventus) and would be an excellent back-up for, say, Aston Villa or Tottenham Hotspur.
Central midfielder – Timi Max Elsnik (Slovenia)
One of the stories of the tournament: Elsnik was loaned out by Derby County to Mansfield Town and Northampton Town in 2019 before returning to his homeland and Olimpija Ljubljana a year later. He has since won a league title, played in all three European competitions and forced his way into the Slovenia national team, starting all four games in Germany. Given his likely small asking price and experience within English football, Elsnik could be a useful fringe player for a promoted club.
Central midfielder – Morten Hjulmand (Denmark)
A relatively late bloomer in the Denmark side, Hjulmand moved to Sporting Lisbon for €18m a month after his senior international debut in September 2023. Since then, he’s forced his way into a starting berth, the energy and physicality to support Christian Eriksen’s playmaking in central midfield. He also scored a tremendous goal against England, which helps our case for a Premier League move. The next member of Brentford’s Danish enclave, anyone?
Attacking midfielder – Dani Olmo (Spain)
Hardly an unknown quantity before this tournament, Olmo began it on the bench but was thrust into the breach by Pedri’s injury and, in doing so, Toni Kroos may just have platformed Spain’s triumph. Olmo left Spain at the age of 17 for Dinamo Zagreb, joined RB Leipzig in 2020 and has since become one of the most versatile attacking midfielders in Europe. Still only 26, he’s a prime candidate for a big-club move. The only issue is finding the right fit in England – Manchester United or Arsenal, perhaps?
Right winger – Ivan Schranz (Slovakia)
Every international tournament needs an emphatically unlikely breakout star, someone who you had barely heard of before June and then wonder if he could do a job for your club by early July. Shranz is a perfect example: 30 years old, a career that has taken him through club football in native Slovakia, Czech Republic and Cyprus and a starring role at Euro 2024. A cheap pickup from Slavia Prague for one of the lower-reaching Premier League clubs? Why not.
Left winger – Nico Williams (Spain)
Reports were linking Barcelona – presumably by moving various financial levers – with a move for Williams even before the tournament began, but we might now get a transfer bunfight. For their part, Athletic Bilbao president Jon Uriarte hit out at an “excessive and uncontrolled bombardment of questions” towards the 22-year-old winger and denied that he would be going anywhere. It feels like classic “£80m offer from Chelsea” territory.
Striker – Ruben Vargas (Switzerland)
Slim pickings for this position, given the failure of strikers to score goals this summer and Georgia’s Georges Mikautadze selfishly sorting out a move to Monaco before we could write this piece. Still, Vargas scored and assisted for Switzerland against Italy in the last-16, is only 25 and currently plays his club football for FC Augsburg, who finished 11th in the Bundesliga. I’m going to say that Crystal Palace or Southampton are the perfect clubs for this one.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/31PqxTf
Post a Comment