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Hello! It won’t be long before transfers come onto the agenda in Europe again. We’re here to tell you what’s cooking.
Coming up:
On our Radar: The players with eyes on them ahead of 2026
(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; Photos: Dean Mouhtaropoulos; Justin Setterfield; Jacques Feeney/Offside; Getty Images)
A month ago, The Athletic’s Gregg Evans got to thinking about whether Liverpool’s narrow failure to sign Marc Guehi in August was at the root of the club’s declining form. More than £400million spent, but did they fall short on the deal they needed most?
You might laugh at the audacity of suggesting Liverpool didn’t quite invest enough but when you consider the way in which their defence is disintegrating — 41 league goals conceded in the entirety of 2024-25, 20 conceded in just 12 games this season — Gregg’s point is a solid one. They threw a lot of money at their house but didn’t properly maintain the roof.
On that basis, I went straight to Guehi’s profile when our 2026 Transfer Radar was published this morning. It’s an overview of the footballers with most eyes on them in the market, and the Crystal Palace centre back is as primed as any other player for a move next year. Liverpool, his number one suitors, have never yearned for him more.
When Palace dug in and refused to sell at Liverpool’s valuation in the last transfer window, it was assumed that Guehi, 25, would keep his powder dry and go to Anfield as a free agent the following summer instead. His contract at Palace expires in seven months’ time and nobody anywhere expects him to extend it, least of all his current employers.
But I’m keen to see if Liverpool revisit him in January because my word, their defence is crying out for a shot in the arm. It’s significant that Ibrahima Konate (also out of contract at the end of 2025-26) shows up in the radar too because his standards, like Liverpool’s, have been on the slide. Real Madrid, who were once rather hot on him, have now decided he isn’t for them. Time for a changing of the guard?
Stars in form
The radar isn’t highlighting players who will definitely be on the move in the winter window, but it will get you thinking about the stock of certain individuals and the levels of interest in them. Here were a few of the other profiles that had me clicking:
- Adam Wharton. Guehi’s team-mate at Palace and a midfielder so slick and spatially-aware that the club must be planning for the day when a bidder knocks on the door. His contract runs to 2029, with no release clause, so he would command a mega fee.
- Scott McTominay. He fell out of fashion at Manchester United somewhat but blimey, he’s back in it, throwing in monster displays for Napoli and Scotland. At 28, he’s probably only got one more big transfer in him — not that Napoli would be rushing to sell.
- Michael Olise. Have you looked at his stats recently? Over the course of less than a season and a half at Bayern Munich, he’s racked up 39 goal contributions in Germany’s Bundesliga alone. He’s well guarded by a deal to 2029, but again, if you were prepared to go big, he’d be in your eyeline.
Emerging talent
As January comes around, the emerging faces across Europe are the ones to focus on — cheaper to buy and easier to move mid-campaign.
Three prospects stood out to me. Real Madrid’s Endrick looks like he’ll be off to Lyon on loan (with nothing doing for him at the Bernabeu), and there’s quite a queue for AZ’s Kees Smit, who loves a ‘give and go’ in midfield. We might also see some action with Eintracht Frankfurt centre-mid Hugo Larsson because the Germans have gone backwards recently and very few clubs in Europe are better at knowing the right time to sell. Let’s see what develops.
News round-up
- A new trophy in Argentina is causing hell. Created on a whim, it went to Rosario Central, in dubious circumstances. Estudiantes were told to give them a guard of honour but refused (and turned their backs, above), which landed some of their squad with suspensions. Estudiantes president Juan Sebastian Veron — once of Manchester United’s parish — has been banned from all footballing activity for six months. Crikey.
- Newcastle United plan to file official complaints to Marseille, UEFA and French police over the treatment of their supporters at Tuesday’s Champions League tie. Newcastle allege the police used “unnecessary and disproportionate” force in managing them.
- Atletico Madrid have been hit with a fine of just over £26,000 ($34,300) by UEFA after some of their fans made monkey gestures and Nazi salutes during a recent Champions League tie at Arsenal.
- A Sunderland fan who admitted racially abusing Leeds United’s Ethan Ampadu and Largie Ramazani last season will serve a three-year stadium ban. Steven Patterson, 68, pleaded guilty in court last month.
- The pressure is on Arne Slot big time but the Liverpool manager believes he retains the confidence and support of the Anfield hierarchy. “The conversations have been the same,” Slot said.
Violence at Villa: Malen hit on head as match stopped for five minutes
Aston Villa worked hard for European qualification but a little bit of them must be looking forward to the end of their Europa League campaign. It’s going well enough on the pitch — they’re four from five after beating Switzerland’s Young Boys yesterday — but in crowd-management terms, it’s proving an ordeal.
A huge amount of publicity surrounded their home tie against Maccabi Tel Aviv earlier this month, a fixture from which travelling Maccabi fans were controversially banned on safety grounds. Protests and counter-protests took place outside Villa Park, although a lid was largely kept on them.
Last night saw unedifying friction inside the stadium itself. Villa’s 2-1 win over Young Boys was halted for five minutes in the first half as visiting supporters fought with police at the front of the stand housing them. Villa players were pelted with missiles as they celebrated two goals scored by Donyell Malen. One hit Malen on the head (above).
Young Boys’ players tried their best to calm the mood and manager Gerardo Seoane was contrite afterwards, saying: “We apologise, I don’t feel good. Everybody loses from this situation.”
Villa Park has two months to breathe before Red Bull Salzburg tip up next.
World Cup claim: Does tournament equate to 104 Super Bowls as Infantino says?
I got into Thanksgiving mode last night by sitting through the Dallas Cowboys’ win over the Kansas City Chiefs (a stonking game in the eyes of this NFL novice).
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has been trying to harness that devotion by marketing the 2026 World Cup as the equivalent of “104 Super Bowls” — which is to say that a projected global TV audience of six billion (no kidding) for next summer’s tournament will be like NFL’s main event on repeat.
Needless to say, the numbers don’t quite stack up. The World Cup will feature 104 matches — I hope you’re hungry — but there’s no chance that each one will individually claw in the equivalent of Super Bowl viewing figures, which peaked at close to 138m in 2025. As one analyst put it to Dan Sheldon, the calculation is “ridiculous”.
That said, the NFL’s vast popularity means soccer’s attempt to tap into it by hyping its own offerings up is totally understandable. The last World Cup final in 2022 pulled in an audience of 1.42bn — way more than any Super Bowl in history. But in FIFA’s eyes, enough is never enough.
Around TAFC
Catch a match
(Selected games, times ET/UK)
Saturday: Premier League: Everton vs Newcastle United, 12.30pm/5.30pm; Tottenham Hotspur vs Fulham, 3pm/8pm — both USA Network, Fubo/Sky Sports; German Bundesliga: Bayer Leverkusen vs Borussia Dortmund, 12.30pm/5.30pm — ESPN+, Fubo/Sky Sports; Serie A: Milan vs Lazio, 2.45pm/7.45pm — Paramount+, DAZN/TNT Sports, DAZN; Copa Libertadores final: Palmeiras vs Flamengo, 4pm/9pm – beIN Sports, Fubo, Fanatiz/BBC; MLS Conference finals: Inter Miami vs New York City, 6pm/11pm; San Diego vs Vancouver Whitecaps, 9pm/2am — both MLS Season Pass/Apple TV.
Sunday: Premier League: Crystal Palace vs Manchester United, 7am/12pm — USA Network, Fubo/TNT Sports; West Ham United vs Liverpool, 9.05am/2.05pm — NBC, Peacock Premium/Sky Sports; Chelsea vs Arsenal, 11.30am/4.30pm — USA Network, Fubo/Sky Sports. La Liga: Girona vs Real Madrid, 3pm/8pm — ABC, ESPN+, Fubo/Premier Sports; Serie A: Roma vs Napoli, 2.45pm/7.45pm — CBS, Paramount+, Amazon Prime, Fubo, DAZN/TNT Sports, DAZN.
And finally..
We’ll sign off this week with an extraordinary story.
In Norway, a women’s player at Valerenga has been cleared of doping — after a banned substance ingested by her was found to have come from a rubber crumb on an artificial pitch. The crumbs are commonly found on 3G and 4G surfaces and when they break down, they produce 1,3-dimethylbutylamine (DMBA), a substance controlled by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
WADA accepted the findings and has no plans to appeal. The player, quite understandably, has chosen to remain anonymous. “It shows how vulnerable you are as an athlete,” she said in quotes provided to The Athletic. There but for the grace of God…
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