Over £2.5 billion has already been spent in the 2022 transfer window with major moves made for global superstars such as Erling Haaland, Aurelien Tchouameni, Raheem Sterling and Matthijs de Ligt. However, with one month remaining until the window shuts on deadline day, there is still plenty of activity left to be done this summer across Europe.
Major clubs such as Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Barcelona still have a lot of business remaining to bolster their squads for the season, and here are five transfers that could still happen in the 2022 summer transfer window.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo to Atletico Madrid
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The biggest open secret in football at the moment is that Cristiano Ronaldo wants out of Manchester United. The Portuguese superstar wishes to play Champions League football in 2022 – something United can’t offer him – and didn’t travel to United’s pre-season tour or show up to training, citing family reasons. Unfortunately, due to his wages and rigid play style, there aren’t many suitors for Ronaldo at this stage of his career, with the likes of Chelsea, Napoli, and Bayern Munich rejecting offers to sign the five-time Ballon D’Or winner.
However, Atletico Madrid have emerged as potential suitors for Ronaldo over the past few days, with Antoine Griezmann mooted as a player who could go the other way if the Portuguese returns to Madrid and La Liga after a four-year absence.
2. Joules Kounde to Barcelona
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Despite suffering from crippling debt and sanctions from La Liga, Barcelona continue to spend money carelessly in the transfer market by mortgaging their future and selling close to 30% of their future TV rights and merchandising revenues. After buying forwards Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha, the Catalan club have turned their attention to the centre of defence to bolster their backline and are targeting Sevilla centre-back Joules Kounde.
The Frenchman has also attracted plenty of interest from Chelsea in England, but the defender’s preferred destination this summer would be the north of Spain, and Barcelona could finalize this move if they can recover some money in the transfer market by selling Frenkie de Jong.
3. Wesley Fofana to Chelsea
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After the departures of Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rudiger and – potentially – Cesar Azpilicueta, Chelsea are in dire need of some cover in the centre of defence. The Blues signed Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli for £35 million but still need to add more bodies at the back if manager Tomas Tuchel wishes to continue with a back three to start the season. Having missed out on Frenchman Joules Kounde, Chelsea could target his countryman Wesley Fofana, who has thrived in the Premier League with Leicester City over the past couple of seasons.
Fofana is blisteringly quick, aggressive in the tackle and can carry the ball out the back effectively, making him more than capable to star at Chelsea on the right side of a back three alongside Koulibaly and Thiago Silva.
4. Mystery Winger to Arsenal
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Arsenal have been busy in the summer transfer window, with the North London club spending the most money amongst all the top five clubs in Europe this season. However, despite adding Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko, and Fabio Vieira, reports suggest Arsenal are still looking to add further depth to their squad before deadline day at the wing. The Gunners missed out on signing Raphinha – who joined Barcelona for £50 million – but have been linked with various wingers such as Michael Olise, Cody Gakpo, Jarrod Bowen, and Pedro Neto.
It is unclear which direction Arsenal will take when looking at who to bring in to back-up Bukayo Saka on the right, but the Gunners may need to off-load some players first in the market – Nicholas Pepe, Bernd Leno, Hector Bellerin – before they can spend more money on transfers.
5. Youri Tielemans to Manchester United
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Manchester United seem destined to fall short in their pursuit of Frenkie de Jong, who has indicated he has no intention of leaving Barcelona and playing for a Europa League club next season. Having missed out on the mercurial Dutchman, the Red Devils are forced to look at other targets in midfield and one player they should look at is Leicester City midfielder Youri Tielemans, who offers a lot of the same qualities as de Jong on the ball. The Foxes are open to sanctioning Tielemans’ departure this summer with only one year remaining on his contract, and United could sign the Belgian for as little as £25 million.
Shivaan Shah