January 2024 and the football world turns its attentions to the transfer window. Here we go …
Well, er, the expectation is that the market will not be especially brisk, what with financial fair play biting hard and a few clubs fearing punishment if they spend over their limits. Still, there are always rumours flying around and leading them is those around Ivan Toney, whose potential move to Arsenal has been flagged since the summer. That Brentford are coming off a run of five consecutive defeats may only increase the premium and the cost could go as high as £100m.
The alternatives don’t look too cheap: Napoli’s Victor Osimhen, Bayer Leverkusen’s Victor Boniface and Internazionale’s Lautaro Martínez, will all cost huge fees, too, and from clubs less willing to sell than Brentford. Under Osimhen’s recent renewal his release clause rose to a mere €130m. There’s Kylian Mbappé, too, his PSG contract coming to its summer close. Real Madrid still want him, and will pay him £23m a season, so clubs such as Arsenal and Liverpool – also linked – have that to live with.
How might Arsenal pay for him? Crystal Palace want Eddie Nketiah to return to his south London roots. Mohamed Elneny is attracting interest from Trabzonspor but Besiktas, Galatasaray and Saudi clubs are exploring conditions of the move. Emile Smith Rowe and Aaron Ramsdale are for sale, but only at premium prices.
So, what else is in the offing: Manchester United’s Mason Greenwood, on loan at Getafe and unlikely to ever play again for his parent club, is linked with transfers to Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, at a fee of £40m. He might even get to inherit the No 10 shirt, as worn by, well quite a few good players, with one particularly coming to mind. The United midfielder Donny van de Beek, someone unable to get into this United team, is meanwhile headed for Eintracht Frankfurt on a loan move and the expectation that Raphaël Varane leaves Manchester lingers.
Tottenham, their small squad racked by injury, are looking at defensive cover, and Genoa’s Romania defender Radu Dragusin is linked, with a move for Lyon’s Jean-Clair Todibo becoming more unlikely to be completed in January rather than in the summer. Lyon, meanwhile, want West Ham’s maverick Saïd Benrahma.
Kalvin Phillips’s time at Manchester City has not gone to plan, and neither is his mooted move to Juventus. Max Allegri, the Juve coach, is having second thoughts on that.
