Transfers

Manchester City midfielder Phil Foden is now Europe's most expensive player to buy, according to the CIES Football Observatory, which recently published its latest ranking of players in Europe's big five leagues with the highest estimated transfer value. How much would someone who wanted Foden have to put up? $232 million.

MLS expansion club Charlotte FC signed Leicester City defender Christian Fuchs.

The 35-year-old left back will join Charlotte in January 2022 ahead of their inaugural season.

ROME - Inter Milan did not think they would need to replace Antonio Conte this year, but in successor Simone Inzaghi, they hope to have found a natural heir.

Conte terminated his deal by mutual consent in May over frustration at Inter's plans to cut costs and sell key players due to financial problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Former AZ Alkmaar golden boy Guus Til has secured a return to the Netherlands after agreeing a loan move to Feyenoord.

Netherlands manager Frank de Boer has drawn some criticism after refusing to allow his players to undertake medicals needed to complete transfers until after the Euros. 

Borussia Dortmund has today completed the signing of goalkeeper Gregor Kobel from VfB Stuttgart. 

The 23-year-old Swiss completed an $18.2 million move to the Westfalenstadion after making 65 appearances for Stuttgart. He arrived in Germany in 2014, signing with Hoffenheim's under-19s, before eventually moving on loan to Augsburg in January 2019. Stuttgart first signed Kobel on a season-long loan last year, when he kept 11 clean sheets in 33 appearances as the Swabians secured promotion back to the Bundesliga.

Schalke endured a historically bad season in 2020-21, but the rot actually began far earlier. There were clear signs about midway through the previous campaign. The Royal Blues' last win of 2019-20 was a 2-0 victory over Borussia Monchengladbach on January 17, 2020. Manager David Wagner was then unable to prevent Schalke ending the season on a winless streak of 16 games. 

In the lower reaches of the English Football League, teams are largely comprised of journeymen. Squad turnover at this level is high, and with shorter contracts and higher financial volatility, players often play on different teams from season to season.

But few footballing nomads have ever reached the migratory magnitude that goalkeeper Josef Bursik has achieved this season. Thanks to numerous injury dilemmas at the Championship and League One level, the 20-year-old Stoke City goalkeeper has played for four different clubs in the 2020-21 campaign alone.