The summer window has arrived, and it is time for various giants to enter the market to pick people, and all kinds of rumors and scandals are flying all over the world. Interestingly, however, while fans waited eagerly for clubs to show their checkbooks, the most recent news was a series of celebrity farewells – not to move elsewhere to earn foreign exchange for their old clubs, but to leave with no transfer fees and only a few words. Among them, there are even a considerable number of people who have not yet determined their future destinations.
That seems weird at first glance, right? After all, all the media will always take the "player whose contract is about to expire" as a summer gold rush, as if it is a big profit without a transfer fee; on the other hand, the unsuccessful renewal and the failure to sell is the failure of the original owner, it is a bad asset loss, and in theory, there should be no such farewell. But the reality is that perhaps, as Wenger predicted many years ago, "players who leave for free" will become a trend.
Giants frequently send away famous players
Let's see if it's right or not, and then let's discuss why. Regarding the matter of free departure, in the past two days, Manchester United alone has announced 3 cases, not counting Cavani and Nemanja Matic, who had been informed earlier: Pogba, the French talent that the Reds bought back for 89 million pounds in 2016, the second time left Old Trafford for free; Lingard, known as "Lin Huang" is the king of traffic, after only getting 2 league starts in the whole season, he also bid farewell to the club he joined when he was 7 years old; and then there is Mata, The Spanish midfielder, which has been completely forgotten by the Red Devils fans, is really no longer a member of Manchester United this time.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. In Spain on the other side of the strait, Welshman Bale rushed to post an article earlier, saying goodbye to Real Madrid, where he had played for 9 years. He is not alone, Marcelo and Isco, the two names that have long been closely linked to Real Madrid, are also coming to leave - they will be looking for a new site, which has just been confirmed by the La Liga giants.
There are also Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1, and you can also easily find some familiar faces who have just said goodbye. Bayern Munich, for example, "abandoned" their 2017 champion Tolisso and let the French midfielder, whose transfer fee had reached 41.5 million euros, leave. Another example is Di Maria, the Argentine "angel" no longer flying in Paris, and his story with Saint-Germain was officially announced a few days ago to end this summer. And Dybala also had an open letter half a month ago, saying that "fate has taken us to a different path", revealing his relationship with Juventus.
In addition, we must not forget that Atletico madrid in La Liga has long said goodbye to Suarez, while the Premier League Chelsea have two centre-backs, Rudiger and Christensen, whose contracts have expired and moved to La Liga. Serie A champions AC Milan also have a free leave, and although midfielder Casey was booked by Barca in March this year, he still went through the "free passage". The situation is similar to that of German defender Jules, from Bayern to Dortmund, and the visa-free deal was officially announced in February. In addition, there are some "advent stars" who are inconclusive for the time being, but it seems unlikely to be renewed, such as Arsenal's Lacazette and Barca's Dembele. If you look beyond the big teams, you'll also find that a figure like Belotti, who was once hyped up in the transfer market, is also free this summer.
Finally, when it comes to trends, you should remember that there were a lot of big sign-free brands last summer. Messi, Ramos, Donnarum, Wijnaldum and Alaba... People are signed by Paris and Real Madrid, but the clubs involved in releasing people are all in England, West, Germany and Italy.
Visa-free is overburdened?
It must be admitted that some of the expired departures of these stars belong to the "natural elimination". For example, the 34-year-old Marcelo is not suitable for the world's top clubs to compete in high intensity, and it is impossible to be resold in advance at his age, but it is most suitable to gather and scatter with the Champions League gold medal to the lower league pension. There are also Suarez, Di Maria and Mata, etc., no longer in a young state of decline, the transfer fee is naturally no longer related to them, and can only go to the market as a "middle-aged unemployed".
Veterans become visa-free, which is a common thing in the entire football world, but the wonder of the current situation is that many players who still look valuable or important are also "left to their own devices" by the original club. Taking Pogba as an example, although the French midfielder lacks quality in empty traffic and continues to decline in Manchester United, his value has long been no better than that year, but according to the assessment of German Transfer, the "market price" of good villains can reach more than 50 million euros. And Dybala, who parted ways with Juve, is theoretically worth at least 40 million euros, not to mention that he was once regarded as the "successor of Prince Zebra", which is nominally one of the team's iconic figures.
If the individual analysis of the renewal of these stars fails, the general reasons are nothing more than a few: the players are unhappy and want to leave; the club is not satisfied with their performance and does not want to stay; or the players are too high to ask for money, and the club is not active in negotiations, which eventually leads to the problem being completely shelved. However, conversely, why can't players who don't want to stay or can't keep them sell early? To borrow a phrase from former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger's "God Prediction" five years ago, "There will be more and more cases in the future [when players expire and leave the team]. Why? Because the transfer fee is too expensive, even if it is just a normal commodity. ”
Wenger may not be very accurate, but he did point out the point that "players are not easy to buy and sell because the cost is too high". In fact, when it comes to foreign sales, Bale and Isco have not been on Real Madrid's "purge list" for a long time? Pogba's move to La Liga or his return to Serie A is also rumored to be almost every year, and Jesse Lingard has also become a "snapping target" for teams in the middle of the Premier League. But in the end, none of them were sold, either because the buyer felt expensive, or because the player's salary was too high, or because the salary was too high, so the buyer did not want to pay the transfer fee.
In addition to the few who have mines at home, most teams have a tendency to be overwhelmed, coupled with the blow of the epidemic since 2020, the willingness of the teams to be careful must have increased a lot - the original bite of the teeth can endure the pain of renewing the contract; and if the new signing can wait until the visa is waived, it is absolutely not to add money in advance.
Another point is quite intriguing, although there were also many free transfers last year, it feels like the "big fish" have been finalized early, and at least the speed of being taken over is very fast, basically there is no need to wait and see in the summer. Although there are many scandals at present, it does not change the fact that some stars are in an "unemployed state". I wonder if this means that the visa-free market is also going to start rolling up? If the cost performance is not high, it will be more and more difficult for big names to find the most suitable receiver.