The 4 biggest transfer sagas of this summer

Bale could be a former Madrid player soon enough Ole Solskjaer seems to have convinced Paul Pogba
Bale could be a former Madrid player soon enough Ole Solskjaer seems to have convinced Paul Pogba

#3 Matthijs de Ligt

Former Ajax man de Ligt is now a Juventus player
Former Ajax man de Ligt is now a Juventus player

The young Ajax star was the hottest target when the transfer window opened. Mino Raiola was his agent. The clubs that entered the race to sign him were Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona, Paris and Real Madrid. Liverpool and Madrid signed off in early stages and De Ligt's future kept juggling between Camp Nou and Old Trafford.

Manchester United used their legend Van der Sar to convince the youngster to United. Barcelona tried to convince his agent with high sums of money. Every day in June had a piece of news that de Ligt was close to signing for a club. Juventus entered the race relatively late. United's absence in Champions League and Barca's reluctance to high demands favoured the Italian champions.

Juventus roped in de Ligt for £76.95 million. Juventus signing Matthijs de Ligt is a big surprise considering the Italians were nowhere near when the race began.


#2 Antoine Griezmann

Griezmann
Griezmann

Antoine Griezmann has been Barcelona's target ever since Neymar departed. The Frenchman has also shown interest in moving to the Catalan giants. Griezmann's transfer started a legal battle between the two stakeholders.

He had signed an agreement with Barcelona without Atletico Madrid's knowledge in March of this year. Griezmann's release clause at that time was €200 million. Barcelona made an official bid to Atletico Madrid in July when his release clause was €120 million.

Atletico argues that Barcelona should pay €200 million because the agreement with the player was signed in March. Barcelona is reluctant to pay the extra €80 million because their official bid was on July 1. Griezmann has already made his Barcelona debut, but the issue persists. The two clubs are in close talks to arrive at a compromise.

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Edited by Nnanna Mba