Tottenham Hotspur, currently third in the English Premier League, has not bought any players in more than a year. Maybe the Spurs could learn a thing or two from Turkish club Elazigspor, which just set the record for most players bought in the closing hours of a transfer window.
For the casual fan watching Europe, the 2019 January transfer window was by no means the most exciting in recent memory. In terms of what it meant for U.S. soccer, it was massive.
More and more young Americans are heeding the words of one-time USMNT coach Jurgen Klinsmann and heading to Europe. More and more European clubs are welcoming young Americans into the fold.
Bayern Munich has signed 17-year-old Real Salt Lake academy product Taylor Booth on a three-and-a-half-year deal, according to Sports Illustrated. Booth is a member of the USMNT U-18 team, and he was a part of the U.S. squad that advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2017 U-17 World Cup.
Over the last four MLS seasons, few players terrified defenses like Sebastian Giovinco. His speed on the ball, clinical finishing and deadly free kicks made him one of the best strikers from the day he joined the league in 2015.
And just like that, Marouane Fellaini has gone from indispensable Manchester United siege tower — a man who could’ve put rivals City in “big, big trouble” — to Shandong Luneng. We shouldn’t feel bad for the 31-year-old Belgian because he’s reportedly signed a contract worth $12.5 million per year after tax.
The recent big-money sales of players like Matt Miazga, Alphonso Davies and Miguel Almiron are no flash in the pan for Major League Soccer — this is now the trend rather than the exception. With the league’s top academies now producing talent fit for first-team minutes — as well as the shift toward buying young foreign talent with an eye toward developing and selling them on for a larger fee — expect to see MLS clubs make even more noise in the transfer market over the coming years.
Krzysztof Piątek isn’t a household name just yet.
He should be.
Six months ago, Genoa bought Krzysztof Piątek from Cracovia in Poland for $5 million.
Last week AC Milan shelled out $40 million for Piątek.
At this rate, Piątek might soon be sold for $100 million.
When Milan made Piątek the most expensive Polish footballer of time with his $40 million move from Genoa, those who haven’t been following Serie A this season might have raised some eyebrows. So just who is this 23-year-old striker, the replacement for Gonzalo Higuaín?
According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sky Sports, Taylor Twellman and The Telegraph (so if Mike Ashley gets blackout drunk and firebombs the deal, don't blame me), Newcastle United and Atlanta United have finally agreed to terms on the transfer of Miguel Almiron to the Premier League.
There was a time when indoor soccer was as big as it got in the United States. After the NASL folded in in 1984 and before Major League Soccer launched in 1996, the only professional soccer in the U.S. was indoors.
The Major Arena Soccer League wants to return to those halcyon days of Dallas Sidekicks and San Diego Sockers, evidence by two giant signings for the current season.
Alejandro Sebastián Romero Gamarra, better known as Kaku (but not that Kaku), is a New York Red Bulls designated player. He arrived in the Big Apple from Huracán with much fanfare in February 2018, but didn’t quite live up to lofty expectations in his first season.
Now he wants a move to Club América. But the Red Bulls are going all Daniel Levy on the Liga MX side and Kaku’s agent, Gustavo Casasola, is not happy.