The summer transfer window has been going on with intensity and vigour. It is a window that allows Europe’s top clubs to sign and refurbish their squad for the forthcoming new season....CONTINUE READING
Buying and selling players is one thing, but selling players on a free transfer is a completely different thing altogether. That is why we will quickly highlight major transfer dealings that were essentially free signings for some clubs across Europe this summer.
Paul Pogba
It would not be hard to rank Paul Pogba first on the list of players who were sold for free in this summer’s transfer window. It is quite incredible that Paul Pogba was sold to the club where he was bought for a record transfer fee at the time.
Manchester United bought Paul Pogba in 2016 from Juventus for an excess fee of over one hundred million euros but sold the Frenchman without collecting a dime. Isn’t it amazing how strange it is?
Franck Kessie
It became an official signing a few days ago when Barcelona unveiled former AC Milan midfielder, Franck Kessie. The Ivorian international is part of the shrewd transfer dealings that Barcelona are currently doing as they scour the transfer market for affordable players.
The Ivorian player becomes part of the exclusive group of African midfielders that became Barcelona players.
Luka Jovic
It was always going to be hard for Serbian forward Jovic to dislodge French striker Karim Benzema from Real Madrid’s first team as their main man in attack. Do you know that Real Madrid bought Jovic for more than 60 million euros from Frankfurt in 2019?
Incredibly, he was deemed surplus to requirements and sold for free to Italian Serie A side Fiorentina this summer. It’s hoped the striker will resurrect his career at the Italian club.
Rudiger Antonio and Christensen
The defenders complete the list of five high-profile players who were sold for free in this summer’s transfer window. Remarkably, they are both former players of Chelsea Football Club, sold for free to Real Madrid and Barcelona, respectively.
The experienced defenders, to varying degrees, joined the biggest clubs in the Spanish league with nothing paid to Chelsea Football Club. Rudiger was bought from Roma in 2017, while Christensen is a Chelsea academy graduate.
Time will tell whether Chelsea made the right decision in losing these defenders on free transfers during the summer transfer window.
