The latest winter transfer window has arrived, meaning some of the world’s best footballers are now just six months away from the expiry of their current contracts.
Thanks to the 1995 Bosman ruling, clubs in other countries can now officially start talks with soon-to-be free agents with a view to a pre-contractual agreement. This allows the player to join the interested club when his current deal expires without being signed by his existing employers.
With so many top players at leading clubs across Europe yet to agree their next contract, The Athletics has identified 12 of the most prominent players who will currently be available for free in the summer period.
In case you haven’t heard yet, Trent Alexander-Arnold’s contract expires in the summer.
Liverpool’s vice-captain has had an excellent first half of the season under new coach Arne Slot, with the Anfield club ready to challenge for trophies at home and in Europe. So far, the 26-year-old has provided five assists, including two in the 3-3 draw against Newcastle United in early December, and scored his first goal of the season in the 5-0 win over West Ham last weekend.
Alexander-Arnold is interested in Real Madrid (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
As one of the team’s key players – an experienced head in the club’s leadership team and a youth fan who came through the club’s academy because he was born locally – Liverpool are keen to sign Alexander-Arnold to a new contract, but face fierce competition from the ruling rulers. Spanish and European champions Real Madrid, who have made the right-back their main target for next season.
Liverpool may have to act quickly as Madrid can begin formal talks with Alexander-Arnold’s representatives from today (January 1) to arrange a pre-contract deal to join the 15-time European Cup/Champions League winners to close.
If there were any doubts about Mohamed Salah’s ability to continue scoring goals and providing assists into his 30s before the start of the season in August, his performances in the months since have emphatically silenced them.
There is indeed a fair argument that Salah is the best player in the world right now. The 32-year-old (he turns 33 just before his contract expires in June) has scored 20 goals and contributed 17 assists in all competitions, putting Liverpool at the top of the Premier League and Champions League in early 2025.
Liverpool have offered Salah an opening contract but he has not yet committed his future at Anfield. In 2023, Liverpool rejected a bid of up to £150m from Saudi Arabian club Al Ittihad, and interest in the Egyptian from the Gulf state is unlikely to have waned.
However, whether Salah, the world’s most famous Arab athlete, would be tempted to move to the Saudi Pro League at this stage of his career is another question.
Liverpool’s high-profile potential free-agent trio is completed by their club captain, Virgil van Dijk.
Like Salah, Van Dijk proves to all doubters that he is still capable of operating at an elite level until he is 30. The Dutchman has been arguably the best centre-back in the Premier League this season, with a defense conceding less than once per game.
At the age of 33 (he will turn 34 at the beginning of July), this could be the last long-term contract that Van Dijk signs with a top European club. Although his future is uncertain, he has been offered a contract by Liverpool and there is growing belief around Anfield that he will stay.
Kevin De Bruyne may be the best player to ever wear a Manchester City shirt, but this year has been far from his best since joining from German side Wolfsburg in 2015.
After an impressive start to the season, including scoring a goal in the 4-1 win against Ipswich Town, De Bruyne has found himself in and out of Pep Guardiola’s starting XI due to a combination of injury problems and a lack of form. He appeared to rediscover his devastating last-third quality in a 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest in December but struggled to maintain that level consistently.
De Bruyne turns 34 in June, just before his current contract expires, and, as reported in the 2025 Transfer Radar, he has interest from the PIF-backed clubs in Saudi Arabia, and there have been talks with the MLS and a number of the North American League squad, but there is also the option to stay with City if he wishes.
Alphonso Davies’ rapid pace and attacking quality has long made him one of the most coveted defenders in European football, and it is no wonder that many of the continent’s biggest clubs are interested in signing him to a contract.
After coming in and out of the starting lineup at Bayern Munich last season, Davies responded with a solid start to this season as new manager Vincent Kompany’s side raced to an early lead at the top of the Bundesliga.
Davies is out of contract at the end of this season (Alexandra Beier/AFP via Getty Images)
Bayern are keen to keep the 24-year-old Canadian international, but he is attracting interest from Premier League clubs and Real Madrid. With so many top clubs looking for a left-back, it would not be a surprise to see Davies involved in many transfer talks with Europe’s biggest clubs until his future is resolved.
While Canadian compatriot Davies could very well stay at his current club, Jonathan David looks set for a move to a European giant.
The forward has been consistent for several years with French side Lille and its national team, but has made a remarkable leap this season, especially in the Champions League. David, 24, has scored six goals and provided three assists in 10 European games – an excellent record considering the profile of the club he plays for. He has also been no slouch in Ligue 1 at home: he has scored eleven times in fifteen games, including a hat-trick against Le Havre in September.
Several Premier League clubs admire him, including Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Aston Villa. Juventus and Inter in Italy and Spain’s Atletico Madrid are also keeping an eye on him.
Seen as the logical successor to Manuel Neuer and Thomas Müller as the German leader at the heart of Bayern’s squad, it seemed inevitable that Joshua Kimmich would play his peak years in Munich. However, in light of the stalled contract negotiations between the 29-year-old and the Bayern board, his future may lie outside the Allianz Arena.
Kimmich has had an indifferent time at Bayern in recent years. He alternated between defensive midfield and wing-back under Kompany and predecessor Thomas Tuchel, neither of whom managed to get the best out of the German captain. He won’t be cheap for those interested, but he is one of the most talented midfielders in Europe and will attract the attention of top clubs.
Leroy Sane
Despite undoubted talent and athletic qualities, Leroy Sane has struggled for consistency since joining Bayern from Manchester City in the summer of 2020.
Sane started 2023/24 in electric form for Bayern, contributing eight goals and ten assists in the opening seventeen games of the Bundesliga. However, due to injuries and an inability to rediscover that form, he registered just one assist in the second half of the 34-match league season. So far in this campaign he has played in and out of new boss Kompany’s side.
The Germany international turns 29 this month and is therefore no longer a young talent from whom inconsistency can be expected. But when Sane is at his best, very few wingers can match his world-class ability to slot past defenders and deliver elite-level final third production.
Angel Gomes reappeared on the radar of many England fans after England interim manager Lee Carsley handed him his first call-up to the senior national team in September, coming on following the departure of Gareth Southgate.
Gomes then impressed at the base of Carsley’s midfield, showing a willingness to drive the team forward with crisp passing, composure in possession and defensive awareness. After leaving Manchester United in 2020 after five league appearances, Gomes matured in Ligue 1 with Lille and could make a return to the Premier League this summer.
When fit and available, Gomes is a mainstay in Lille’s midfield. He can play as a number 10, number 8 or in the deeper number 6 position he occupied under Carsley.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin looked set to become one of England’s most in-demand strikers a few seasons ago, but injuries held back his progress.
In the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, he scored 29 goals in 69 league appearances and made the England European Championship squad, following the latter, ahead of a number of more experienced options. Now 27 and having scored just 16 times since that 2020/21 season, Calvert-Lewin could now be in line for a move to revive his career.
Calvert-Lewin’s career has stalled due to injuries (Darren Staples/AFP via Getty Images)
Yet he remains important to Sean Dyche’s plans at Everton. He has started 16 of 18 league games this season and although his goal output has declined, the manager appreciates his staying power and defensive work.
Neymar
Neymar remains one of the most famous and talented players in the world, but his move to Saudi Arabia has not been a success.
The 32-year-old Brazilian was the key player in the mass exodus of superstars to the Saudi Pro League in 2023, joining Al Hilal after a six-year spell at Paris Saint-Germain. After just five games for his new club, Neymar suffered an ACL knee injury against Brazil in October 2023. He finally returned after more than a year away, but soon suffered a hamstring problem, which has kept him out of action ever since.
Neymar has attracted the attention of MLS clubs, most notably Inter Miami, where he would be on the pitch alongside ex-Barcelona teammates Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets, as well as Javier Mascherano, who is now their head coach . . It would be complicated for Miami to sign Neymar under the league’s salary caps, but not impossible. Right now, though, his future is up in the air.
Although regarded as one of Germany’s brightest talents in central defence, Jonathan Tah’s reputation for being error-prone has traditionally been one of the main reasons why he had not yet joined a bigger club. If he could iron out those mistakes, Tah, an elite athlete who is composed in possession, looked poised for an upward move.
Under Xabi Alonso at Bayer Leverkusen, the 28-year-old has delivered on that promise over the past two seasons and is now regarded as one of the most reliable and solid defenders in the Bundesliga. He played a key role in Leverkusen’s invincible 2023/24 domestic season, establishing himself at the heart of the German defense under Julian Nagelsmann.
With so many top teams across Europe looking to strengthen their central defense, Tah could quickly rise to the inner circle of football’s elite clubs.
(Top photos of De Bruyne and Kimmich; Getty Images)