The Three Most Tiresome Transfer Market Sagas So Far | OneFootball

Despite the jump start thanks to the FIFA Club World Cup, the transfer market has been open for just a minute, especially action-wise, yet some stories have already seemingly dragged on for an eternity because of their twists and turns, severely impacting a few teams, if not outright hurting them.

Victor Osimhen

For the second year in a row, Napoli are held up by the future of their most expensive player. It’s not a coincidence that they have been negotiating hard in all their transactions. It’s not just a savvy way to operate, but also a necessity, until the windfall finally arrives. Just as it looked like his transfer to Galatasaray was a fait accompli, the talks stalled because the sellers demanded ironclad bank guarantees, Mediaset reports. Assuming the Turkish side isn’t running any funny business, that’s basic and routine stuff. There’s probably something else behind the temporary interruption.

The deal will probably happen anyway, preferably in a hurry, so the Azzurri can move on and focus on more pleasing stuff. But some questions linger. First of all, he could have just made it clear from the get-go that his preference, or perhaps only objective, was to stay with the Cimbom rather than welcoming offers from other sides he wasn’t too keen on joining. Secondly, his release clause has expired, which could open up a whole new can of worms. The Scudetto holders won’t go there because it’d complicate his transfer to any destination. However, if Mateo Retegui has fetched nearly €70M, they’d be entitled to ask for well over €100M with the fixed sum no longer in the picture. It’d be a very gusty move, but it’d prolong the sufferance. The risk would be to postpone its end by another year.

Dusan Vlahovic

While Napoli have some wriggle room, Juventus are straight-up held hostage by this situation early in the transfer market. They haven’t declared it nor leaked it, but if they aren’t fully penny-pinching, they are certainly acting a lot more judiciously with their money and their squad construction. It’s a pivot that somewhat justifies an absurdly late regime change. They have to offload players before onboarding new ones. Not necessarily because they are cash-strapped, but to open up roster spots and better manage their resources. Jonathan David is an exception, but they are already pretty certain that they won’t keep both the Serb and Randal Kolo Muani. It was an obvious foreshadowing of a future need. Plus, grabbing one of the best free agents available makes a lot of sense if you aren’t in a position to make splashes.

If they can’t find a way out of the mess, they probably won’t keep the former Fiorentina on the stands and eat his mammoth wages. He’ll be the backup striker before a very sad Bosman departure. It’s clear that he won’t give up any money, neither in a possible bridge renewal to set up a loan that would kick the can down the road, nor if he heads elsewhere, and why should he? Saudi Arabia is the only hope to salvage things from an economic standpoint. Though, he doesn’t appear open to that, at least for now. The numbers and his attitude surely don’t exactly entice other teams to invest in him. Even those that do like him can just wait and get him for nothing next season. He’ll most likely have to settle for a far less rich salary if he does become a free agent after getting the lay of the land.

An all-important summit with his agent will reportedly occur soon. Every option is on the table, including an early contract rescission, TuttoSport informs. While that’d be an insane proposition in a normal situation, even more so for a player acquired for a humungous fee, it doesn’t look too outlandish, even though it won’t come cheap. At least, it’d pave the way to signing another striker. The early confidence shown in him by Igor Tudor hasn’t revived him. Any warm body, even a veteran who would serve merely as David’s deputy, would be more useful. He wouldn’t come with all the baggage and the aura of negativity.

Hakan Calhanoglu

Apparently, every summer, he and his camp decide that just staying at Inter without sussing out what the transfer market has to offer is too dull. His move to Galatasaray quickly became a real possibility. His intention to leave seems a lot more real than his previous flirtations with Bayern Munich and Middle Eastern franchises. Yet, after meeting with the representatives of the Turkish side in Milan, the Nerazzurri brass let it be known there aren’t the conditions for him to transfer and that he’s going nowhere, La Gazzetta dello Sport reports (via Goal). The gap between the offer and the requests was too large even to start negotiating.

While it’s easy to argue that he’s more valuable to his present club than any bid he could realistically draw, that’s a bold stance. It’s not even mid-July yet. He could dig his heels in, and he had already dropped every possible hint, while stopping short of publicly asking out. In the players’ empowerment era, it’s hard to imagine that, if somebody is adamant about fleeing, a team will keep him against his will. Both would have a horrible time the following season. He’ll either depart, or there will have to be a reckoning, a blatant backtracking and re-commitment by him, if not even an apology. The verbal scuffle with Lautaro Martinez is something mighty hard to come back from and potentially a locker-room destroying affair.