With just one day to go before the transfer window slams shut, clubs and players are frantically trying get their last pieces of business done. On the club side, many teams are still looking to add that final piece to the puzzle, while on the other side, some players who have fallen out of favor with their manager are looking to engineer moves to a new club where they will get more playing time. All this must be done before 11 PM GMT (6:00 PM ET) August 31st deadline.
Which players could be on the move before Wednesday’s deadline?
Sky Sports is reporting that Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere is considering a loan move to another club in England or Europe in hopes of securing more regular football. Wilshere has made just two substitute appearances for Arsenal so this season. West Ham and Bournemouth are rumored to be interested in his services.
What a fall from grace for the player who used to be the future of Arsenal and England. You almost never hear about a team looking to send a 24-year-old player out on loan to secure more regular football. The truth is it likely means what we all feared back in May, that Arsenal have realized Wilshere will never be the player he was before his latest injury. They’re not completely ready to move on from him, but they also don’t think he’ll be breaking into the first team anytime soon. At least Arsenal fans learned long ago not to rely on Wilshere being in the team.
Following a couple of great performances in the semifinals and finals of Euro 2016 it seemed inevitable that some European club would come and snatch up Newcastle United’s Moussa Sissoko and rescue him from playing in the Championship. Will he get a move?
This one is bizzare. Sissoko was great for France this summer and proved he can be an asset for many teams? So why has no team come calling for him? For starters, Newcastle placed an extraordinary price tag on him, but if Sissoko wanted to leave he could force a move, and you would think he would have done that to avoid playing in the Championship. Bookies have Everton (3/1) and Tottenham (5/1) as the favorites to land him should he leave, but also have listed Newcastle listed as 2/1 favorites to retain him.
Remember Mario Balotelli? It’s been a long time since we’ve heard from him but the striker is still on the Liverpool payroll. It’s no secret that Liverpool have been trying to offload the striker for quite some time, but will they be able to?
The main obstacle for Liverpool has been Balotelli’s wages. Simply put, he makes a lot of money and most clubs can’t afford to pay his wage demands. He spent last season on loan at AC Milan where he scored just one goal in 20 Serie A appearances there aren’t many suitors. The Daily Star is reporting that he’s undergoing a medical with French club Nice, and Liverpool will certainly be hoping they could get the Italian strikers off the books.
Saido Berahino is the story that won’t go away. The player has somehow managed to have a transfer saga that is now in its third transfer window and he still hasn’t moved from the club. Stoke City are rumored to be very interested in signing the English striker should West Brom finally decide to sell him.
At this point the best move for everyone would be for West Brom to sell Berahino. This all started because Berahino didn’t want to play for West Brom, but the chairman didn’t want to sell him. Berahino didn’t handle the news in the most mature way, leading to him rotting on the bench for most of last season. Teams are still interested in his services so why is West Brom holding onto him if they’re not going to play him? If Berahino has any chance of getting his career back on track he needs to move from the Hawthornes now.
A lot of action coming from the Bernabeu with The Mirror reporting that the Spanish giants need to trim the squad and the choice is between James Rodriguez and Isco. Real president Florentino Perez has insisted on holding on to James and has blocked a move to Chelsea. That leaves Isco as the odd man out, with the out of favor midfielder seeking a loan away from the club.
Isco has reportedly said if he were to leave Real it would only be to return to his former club Malaga or to Premier League side Tottenham. This would be a tremendous grab for Tottenham and they should be pulling out all the stops to get him. With Christian Erikson struggling in the early parts of the season, he would provide great competition for the club.
Everton could be in line for a move for out of favor Manchester City striker Wilfried Bony. The Toffees have been relatively quiet this summer as most of their plans centered around striker Romelu Lukaku and whether he would stay or go.
Lukaku looks set to stay at Everton but this would be a move that benefits both the club and player. Even with Lukaku staying Bony would provide valuable depth at the striker position, something that Everton had practically none of. Bony needs to leave City as with addition of Gabriel Jesus and the emergence of Kalechi Iheanacho he’ll almost never see the field for Pep Guardiola’s side.
