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One of them won the Premier League Golden Boot three times. Another is playing a very public game of chicken with Barcelona. It’s mid-July, the transfer window is wide open — and somehow, nobody has signed them yet.
Free agency was supposed to be the smart club’s shortcut this summer. And for a while, it was. Real Madrid picked up Ibrahima Konaté and Bernardo Silva without paying a single euro in fees, while Tottenham moved early for Andy Robertson and Marcos Senesi. Luka Modrić ended his Milan chapter. Robert Lewandowski said goodbye to Barcelona.
But now it’s July 17, the early movers have moved — and the players still left on the market are, frankly, far too good to be unemployed. Here are the five names that should have sporting directors across Europe refreshing their agents’ contact lists.
1. Mohamed Salah — the free agent nobody saw coming
Let’s start with the one that still doesn’t feel real. One year into an expensive two-year contract, Salah and Liverpool agreed to part ways after a final season that went badly wrong. Read that again: a three-time Golden Boot winner, Liverpool’s greatest modern goalscorer, is currently a free agent.
The assumption across the industry is that Saudi Arabia will make the obvious call, and the obvious offer. But here’s the more interesting question: does Salah want his last chapter in Europe to be that season? A one-year deal at a Champions League club would cost nothing in fees and could be the bargain of the decade — if his legs agree. The club brave enough to test that theory will dominate the news cycle for a month. The silence so far tells you how scared everyone is of the wage bill.
2. Dusan Vlahović — the man waiting for Barcelona to blink
Vlahović’s situation might be the boldest bet any striker has made in years. His Juventus contract has expired, offers have reportedly arrived from former clubs and from Beşiktaş — and he appears to be ignoring all of them, betting that Barcelona will eventually come calling once they settle on Lewandowski’s replacement.
It’s high-stakes poker. If Barcelona move for a different profile, Vlahović enters August as a 26-year-old elite striker with no club and weakened leverage. If they don’t? He walks into Camp Nou for free while other clubs spend €80m on lesser forwards. Either way, this is the subplot of the summer.
3. Jadon Sancho — third time lucky?
Manchester United’s long goodbye to Sancho is finally, officially over. His contract has run out, and Aston Villa — where he spent last season on loan — are considered favourites to sign him permanently, with Bournemouth and Crystal Palace also monitoring the situation after securing European football. For a player who cost United a fortune not so long ago, the free-transfer price tag says everything about how football’s market punishes stalled careers. It also makes him one of the highest-upside gambles available: the talent never left, only the momentum did.
4. John Stones — a champion with no club
Multiple Premier League titles, a Treble, over a decade at the top — and no contract. A sentimental return to Everton has been floated, though Stones is thought to see himself still playing Champions League football, with Tottenham emerging as a possible destination. Injuries are the asterisk on everything here, but a fit Stones remains one of the best ball-playing centre-backs of his generation. Someone is getting a steal.
5. Julian Brandt — the ambitious swing
Borussia Dortmund have confirmed Brandt is leaving this summer, and Leeds United are being strongly linked with what would be a genuinely ambitious move. A newly-promoted-era Leeds landing a Germany international playmaker for free would be a statement signing — the kind that shifts how a whole transfer window is judged.
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