The summer of 2022 has proved to be the most remarkable transfer window in football history....CONTINUE READING
The Premier League broke every possible transfer record and spent more money on new players than in any previous transfer window.
Three players moved across Europe for more than €100 million: Darwin Nunez, Aurelien Tchouameni and Antony.
Elsewhere, there have been many other big-money and high-profile transfers.
However, not all of these players have shone so far.
Some haven’t even played yet.
We’ve taken a look at five key players who aren’t getting many playing opportunities at the moment.
Casemiro (Man Utd)
Manchester United made it one of their summer priorities to sign a central midfielder, first targeting Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong.
When a deal wasn’t possible, they instead turned to Real Madrid legend Casemiro, for whom they paid more than €70 million.
But the Brazilian has barely featured so far. He has not started once in the Premier League and has made only three appearances, playing 51 minutes in total.
The only game he has started was in the Europa League.
Ryan Gravenberch (Ajax)
Much was expected of Ryan Gravenberch when Bayern Munich paid €25 million plus add-ons for the Ajax midfielder last summer.
However, Gravenberch has yet to start a Bundesliga game despite Bayern Munich’s problems.
In five games as a substitute, he has played just 105 minutes, and he has not started in the Champions League.
Gravenberch recently admitted that he is unhappy with his lack of playing time: “To be honest, yes, I am dissatisfied,” he said.
“You want to play, but the manager chooses other players. I have to accept it, but it’s difficult. I was hoping for more minutes, but I have to stay calm.”
Matthijs de Ligt (Bayern)
Matthijs de Ligt is another big, young Dutch player who is struggling at the moment.
Bayern Munich signed the Dutch international from Juventus in the summer for over €80 million.
We had hoped that de Ligt would be able to fulfil his potential in Munich after three years of stagnation in Turin.
So far, he has failed to establish himself. He has only started half of Bayern’s games and Julian Nagelsmann currently does not consider him a first-choice player after a few goal-scoring performances.
Franck Kessie (Barcelona)
Barcelona have signed a four-year contract with free agent Franck Kessie, who left Milan last summer.
Kessie’s decision to join Barcelona was questionable even before the start of the season due to the abundance of talent in the midfield at Camp Nou.
Alongside Pedri, Gavi, Sergio Busquets and Frenkie de Jong, Kessie always struggled to find a place in the first team.
This proved to be the case as he only started one La Liga match and came off the bench three times, totalling 83 minutes. He also played once in the Champions League and scored a goal.
Arthur Melo (Liverpool)
Arthur Melo was far from a “big signing” for Liverpool, as he arrived at Anfield as a loan player for this season.
He signed at the last minute due to Liverpool’s injury crisis in midfield.
It is said that Jurgen Klopp was never that keen on signing Arthur, and so it turned out to be.
Despite Klopp having almost no midfielders at his disposal, Arthur played just 13 minutes – and that as a late substitute when Liverpool were already 4-1 down against Napoli.
