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We may not have noticed it too much in England so far this summer, but the transfer window is well underway.
The nation has been gripped by the World Cup, and have got behind the country in a way that we haven’t seen since 1996, and there is now real belief that football could be coming home. And with all the fuss about the World Cup, people’s interest in club football seems to have waned for the time being.
England have gone on an incredible run in Russia, with their win over Sweden taking them to their first World Cup semi-final since 1990 in Italy. The team has formed a real bond with supporters, and there is a real desire for them to do well.
It has taken the attention almost entirely off what is going on in club football, and the transfer window in particular.
There have been a number of deals done. Liverpool have spent upwards of £90 million to sign Fabinho and Naby Keita, from Monaco and RB Leipzig respectively. Manchester United have paid around the £50 million mark for Fred. Leicester City have also spent big, paying over £20 million for both James Maddison and Ricardo Pereira.
But while it’s the big players who are being linked with a move, there are a number of players who seem to have been forgotten slightly over the course of the past season, and for the good of their careers, will need to make a move this summer. Here are eight of those players who need to move:
#5 Danny Ward (Liverpool)
At 25, Ward’s career has stalled over the past year at Anfield. He has been at Liverpool since 2012, but the majority of his appearances since them have come when he has been away from the club on loan. He played 21 times during his time with Aberdeen in the 2015/16 season but is most fondly remembered by Huddersfield Town fans, after his heroics during two penalty shootouts in their play-off campaign as they were promoted to the Premier League.
There was a thought that he would return to Anfield and challenge Loris Karius and Simon Mignolet for the number one jersey at the club, but he only made a single League Cup appearance last season. It doesn’t look like he will be involved too much at the club next season either. He is too good to be a third choice goalkeeper, and even if it means dropping down to the Championship, he has to leave.
#7 Joel Campbell (Arsenal)
Believe it or not, Campbell is still at Arsenal. He has been with the club for seven years now, but has just returned from a sixth loan spell away from the club. He spent last year at Real Betis, but because of injuries, he only made eight appearances in La Liga, scoring two goals. He has only spent one full season at Arsenal, and that came in 2016, when he made 19 appearances, scoring three goals.
It looks like the ship has sailed at Arsenal. They already have an awful lot of attacking talent in the squad, as well as a number of younger players coming through, whose progress may be slowed by keeping Campbell in the squad. He has had much greater success on the international scene, where he has been a mainstay in the Costa Rica side, playing 79 games for his national side, scoring 15 goals.
#6 Davy Klaassen (Everton)
It was only a year ago that Everton were being praised for making one of the signings of the summer when they paid over £23 million to bring the Ajax captain to England. Fast forward 12 months and the Dutchman is in limbo as to where his future lies. His first season at Goodison Park can only be described as a complete disaster, during which he appeared only seven times in the Premier League, and actually played more in the Europa League, where he appeared eight times.
There is a new man in charge at Everton now in the shape of Marco Silva, and there is a chance that he is prepared to give Klaassen another chance. However, after seeing how poorly he settled in England at the first time of asking, Silva may feel the best thing he can do with Klaassen is sell him, and reinvest the funds in his squad.
#5 Leonardo Ulloa (Leicester City)
Ulloa had a good start to his career at Leicester, but things have gone downhill for him sadly in the last two years. Much of his time at the King Power Stadium was spent on the bench, but he was still a major part of their title-winning squad in 2016. When the Foxes began preparing for the Champions League the following season though, they brought in a couple of strikers for big money from around Europe, and Ulloa dropped down the pecking order.
In the second half of last season, he returned to Brighton on loan, the club he first joined when he moved to England. He has scored just two Premier League goals in the last two seasons though, so managers may doubt whether he is still capable of doing a job in the Premier League. He is another one who may have to drop down into the Championship for regular first-team football.
#4 Matteo Darmian (Manchester United)
There looked like so much potential when Darmian arrived at Old Trafford from Torino in 2015. He was an important player in Louis van Gaal’s side during his season under the Dutchman, making 28 Premier League appearances in his debut year, but he never established himself under Jose Mourinho and played only 26 league games in the last two seasons.
He is a solid and consistent performer, but Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young have been preferred in the full-back positions. If Darmian is to leave Manchester this summer, and that looks the most likely scenario, a return to Italy is on the cards. Both Juventus and Inter Milan have been linked with a move for him in the past, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if they returned for him in the next few weeks.
#3 Vincent Janssen (Tottenham)
There seems to have been a curse on Tottenham’s second choice strikers over the past few years. Roberto Soldado never lived up to potential, and then Janssen came in and never really made an impact at White Hart Lane. Even last year, Fernando Llorente struggled when called upon.
Janssen had just one full season with Tottenham, during which he scored just two Premier League goals. He spent last season on loan at Fenerbahce, but never really did the business, mainly down to injuries. He played only 15 league games. It seems unlikely that he will get another go at Tottenham, but he will have suitors. He is a natural finisher, he was just never able to properly establish himself in North London.
#2 Sofiane Boufal (Southampton)
Two years ago, Southampton paid a then club-record £16 million to bring Boufal to the club from Lille. His talent has never been in doubt in England. He is excellent on the ball, and like he showed with his goal of the season contender against West Brom last year, he is capable of producing moments of genius. It has been his attitude and effort that has led to him failing in England, as he simply doesn’t look like he’s interested out on the pitch.
His time at St. Mary’s is as good as over. He fell out with Mark Hughes towards the end of last season, and trained with the under-23s during the final few weeks. It seems their relationship has not improved over the summer, and he has now been left out of the Saints’ pre-season squad that are travelling to China. Teams may be interested in a player of his quality, but there aren’t many managers who will accept a player with his attitude in their squad.
# Jordan Hugill (West Ham)
Hugill’s story of failure at his current club is perhaps one of the sadder ones. He has waited his whole career for a go in the Premier League and completed a move to West Ham from Preston North End in January for a fee of around £10 million. There was always debate as to who was responsible for his signing though, and he played just 22 minutes of football after his move to the London Stadium.
It seems inevitable that he will be on his way out of the club this summer. It seems unlikely that it will be a Premier League club who offer him an opportunity, but he has proven himself a good Championship player in the past, and it will probably be a Championship club that comes back in for him this summer.
