– I think this could quickly become a recording window. I don’t see any reason why that shouldn’t happen, says the hapless Oyvind, commentator for TV 2.
June 14 opens the international transfer window, but rumors have been circulating for a long time. The club’s season has just ended, and as the players now (after two international matches) go on summer break, the hard work of both managers and sporting agents begins.
Ready: Jude Bellingham has been fired as this summer’s top transfer target. Now he is ready to face Real Madrid.
Photo: Martin Meissner/AP
There is a lot going on
Manchester United and Chelsea – among others – will be looking for a new striker.
Liverpool will revamp their midfield and are already well underway with the purchase of Alexis MacAllister. Arsenal will once again try to match the treble-winner Manchester City, who will certainly strengthen the team as well.
Tottenham and Chelsea have some solid clean-up jobs ahead, while Newcastle, who have secured Champions League play for the first time in 20 years, will also come through.
And that’s just clubs in England.
Big job: Erik ten Hag had a good debut season by winning the League Cup and finishing third in the Premier League. This summer he wants to sell and strengthen.
Photo: Carl Reisen/Reuters
Bayern Munich and Real Madrid are likely to join the chase for attackers. Napoli will try to keep and strengthen the champion team. Paris Saint-Germain wants to say goodbye to many stars and build a stronger team.
Barcelona wants to build on the gold in La Liga and fight back in the European elite.
Not to mention all the “smaller” clubs with big ambitions.
– Al-Saker says it is very difficult to imagine that she will not be wild again this year.
On Monday evening, just two days before the transfer window opened, news was received that the French star, Kylian Mbappe, did not want to extend his contract with Paris Saint-Germain. This could have dire consequences for the transitional summer.
The French player’s contract expires next summer, after which PSG faces a real dilemma: sell him now for a tidy sum, or keep him, but let him leave the club for free in a year.
And Taisig claimed in the French newspaper Le Parisien that Mbappe wants to move to Real Madrid already this summer, which the Frenchman denies.
– It’s a lie. They grow up every time. I have already said that I hope to stay at PSG next season. I am satisfied here, he wrote on Twitter, but few people consider that Mbappe will be a PSG player when the window closes, even after the Twitter message.
The latest reports from France claim that Paris Saint-Germain would rather sell this summer than steal it for free in a year’s time.
Al-Saqr believes that Mbappe will end up at Real Madrid.
– If Real Madrid succeed in reaching Bellingham and Mbappe, it will be very difficult. Then we’re back in “Galacticos” mode, says the commentator.
He’s one of the best players in the world, he tried with Paris Saint-Germain for a few years, but they didn’t succeed in Europe. It’s an insane amount of money to get a player like him, but Real Madrid was my first thought when I saw him, he adds.
See you soon? Kylian Mbappe’s days at Paris Saint-Germain may be numbered.
Photo: FRANCE FIFE/AFP
New Kane saga?
There are some names that are repeated in the gossip columns. Judd Bellingham was considered by many to be the hottest target of the summer transfer window, but Real Madrid came out early and already got the midfielder, who costs more than NOK 1 billion.
His compatriots, Mason Mount (Chelsea) and Declan Rice (West Ham) are others who are mentioned frequently, and this year, like last year (and most of the summers before that too) are shaping the future of Harry Kane’s news image.
But the Falcon doesn’t believe in any epic Kane this time around.
– I put my head on the block and say that I think it will be resolved very early. They cannot allow themselves the same tour as last year. He was of little dignity. He is a legend at the club, and there is a new coach who will have his say.
Commentator: Øyvind Alsaker.
Photo: Daniel Sannum Lauten/TV 2 TV
Kane has one year left on his contract and has scored 30 goals this season at Tottenham. It’s all nonsense. Perhaps the best and most complete striker in the world. What he does when he’s not scoring is at a high level, and the next decade could be his last big contract properly.
Kane, after Karim Benzema’s departure, has been linked with Real Madrid, but also with Manchester United. The falcon is looking forward to summer to the last.
Especially in the case of ownership. There is a lot of noise around it, and it is unfavorable with the transition window on the road. Eric ten Hag has presented this season and is standing strong. So now he should be able to make demands. And it also has a cleaning function.
Al-Saqr believes that the battle for a top striker will be one of the most interesting things this summer. Because there are not many great strikers, but there are many clubs looking for goal machines.
TV 2 commentator Victor Osimhen fired the Naples as a hot alternative, but noted it would likely cost NOK 1 billion. The other returning strikers are Goncalo Ramos (Benfica), Randall Kolo Mwane (Eintracht Frankfurt) and Rasmus Höglund (Atalanta).
Substitutes: Randall Kolo Mwani (left), Gonzalo Ramos and Rasmus Holland are among the forwards who could move this summer.
Photo: Reuters, Associated Press
Saddle problem tracking
Football writer Thore Haugstad at NRK also believes in a busy summer, but he doesn’t think the challenge will be to buy players, but rather to sell them.
– There are many clubs like Barcelona, Chelsea, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain who have a lot they would like to get rid of. And it is not always so easy, because there are players with high salaries, he says, and points out:
– It is a result of the fact that money and talent have been concentrated so heavily by a handful of the top clubs, meaning there are very few of them that can be sold without massive salary cuts.
Haugstad has written many comments about the transfer market and believes we will have a concrete summer.
– I think there will be some very big names that will influence the picture for a few weeks. Names like Kane, Bellingham and Mount have already been in the news for a long time, because everyone knows they can, will or will change clubs.
– and then one knows from experience that there are always some series that never end.
Author: NRK’s Thor Haugstad.
There will be no Messi series, because the Argentine is already ready for David Beckham’s Inter Miami club.
He, too, is excited about the outcome of the Mbappe saga.
– It’s quite clear that Real Madrid want him, that he wants Real Madrid, says Haugstad, and suggests that Mbappe is stuck in a dysfunctional club.
– hence he is a real “Galactico”.
Haugstad believes it is too difficult for PSG to let Mbappe go to a Champions League contender, but the alternative, to sign him for free in one year’s time, makes him think it will end up being a transfer.
But he is very excited about Chelsea. Haugstad has written several comments about the blue shirts following owner Todd Boehly’s entry, and he’s excited now that Mauricio Pochettino has taken over as coach at Stamford Bridge.
– There is such a crazy mess in Chelsea. They brought in a lot of new players, this stable is very big, and there are a lot of people who are leaving. Haugstad says it is a big question how they are analyzed and evaluated by Pochettino.
In a nutshell: Mauricio Pochettino has a small clean-up job now in charge of Chelsea.
Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
And here comes my challenge again: Players can be hard to sell.
– It might well be that Pochettino wants to bring in his players too, and then you get more massive replacements in no time. It is possible that some decisions made in recent windows will be reversed. At the same time: what would it be like for Chelsea to sell players when everyone knows they have to?
Haugstad believes they may be facing the toughest transfer window.
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