7 Top Players Who Are Still Free Agents

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Here are our 7 top players who are STILL free agents

7. Abel Hernandez

There are some really good free agents overlooked, recently-departed CSKA Moscow duo Bibras Natkho and Pontus Wernbloom for example, or Diego Antonio Reyes and Bakary Sako.

Anyway, in seventh place, we’ve gone for Abel Hernandez, a man who unlike those two, could be on his way to Moscow. A quick and instinctive finisher with a fine left foot, Hernandez just came to the end of a four-year deal with Hull City. The second most expensive signing in the Yorkshire sides history, Hernandez was prolific in the Championship but often quiet in the Premier League during his time at the KCOM. Linked with a couple of Championship sides, the reason Hernandez hasn’t yet found a new club is reportedly down to his £100,000 a week wage demands, and he failed a medical at CSKA during the production of this video.

6. Samir Nasri

Samir Nasri of Manchester City prior to the International Champions Cup 2017 match between Manchester City and Real Madrid at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on July 26, 2017 in Los Angeles,…

Another familiar face, full international and former Premier League player, Samir Nasri is a technically excellent footballer who can operate both out wide and through the middle. He made his name with Marseille in France before flourishing under Arsene Wenger in North London. A big money move to Manchester City followed, the Frenchman winning two Premier League titles at the Etihad, before arrivals like Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne signalled the end of his time with the club. Nasri is currently serving a six-month doping ban which will expire next month, most recently having played for Antalyaspor in Turkey.

5. Hatem Ben Arfa

Samir Nasri may fall into a category of very gifted footballers who have had their careers hampered by ill-discipline and supposed attitude problems, but on all those fronts, he comes nowhere near fifth place in this seven, the one and only Hatem Ben Arfa. An immensely talented and natural footballer who can beat men at will, Ben Arfa looked like a future Ballon d’Or winner during his early years in the Lyon academy. He looked a world beater sometime later in his debut season in the Premier League with Newcastle United, but things quickly turned sour. A loan move to Hull City was supposed to salvage his career, but it only sullied his reputation once more.

Ben Arfa was handed one last chance to turn things around on the Cote d’Azur with Nice, an opportunity he promptly grasped with both hands. One fantastic season later and he’d been snapped up by PSG, where he proceeded to fall out of favour once more, and having failed to make a single appearance in his final season with the club, he is now a free agent at the age of 31.

4. Stephane Mbia

Stephane Mbia of Sevilla celebrates victory after the UEFA Europa League Final match between FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and FC Sevilla on May 27, 2015 in Warsaw, Poland.

The third consecutive former Marseille player in this seven, Stephane Mbia is a highly experienced Cameroonian international. A dogged and determined defensive midfielder who English fans may recall from his time at Queens Park Rangers, the former Ligue 1 champion has also played for Sevilla and Trabzonspor. Like so many players recently, Mbia took the opportunity to earn enormous money in China back in 2016, signing a reported £107,000 a week two-year deal with Hebei China Fortune. Mbia left the CSL side by mutual consent in March 2018, and he is yet to find a new club.

3. Yaya Toure

Having left Manchester City after eight years with the club this summer, Yaya Toure has been linked with moves to China, the US and a reunion with Manuel Pellegrini at West Ham, but he remains a free agent as of yet.

As a player Toure’s impact on the blue half of Manchester has been extraordinary. He was the driving force in both their first FA Cup and first Premier League wins under Sheikh Mansour’s ownership. His tally of 24 goals in a single season as a box-to-box midfielder is absolutely incredible, and if someone can light a spark in Toure, he could be a real asset, even at 35.

2. Bernard

Bernard of Brazil

Anyone familiar with the Football Manager video game series will have long-known about the diminutive Brazilian known as Bernard. Highly thought of during his early years with Atletico Mineiro, like so many talented Brazilians, the 5’5” wide man ended up joining Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine. It is there that Bernard has spent the last five years, and he is still only 25 years old. Currently being linked with Leicester City and Chelsea, it seems highly likely the 2013 Confederations Cup winner will be playing in the Premier League come August.

1. Max Meyer

A technically excellent midfielder who can play as either an attacking midfielder or as a deep-lying playmaker, Max Meyer racked up almost 200 appearances for Schalke, and he is still only 22. Capped four times by Germany, Meyer’s contract with his boyhood club came to an end this summer, and he left the club reportedly in the hope of finding improved terms elsewhere. Linked with everyone from Arsenal and Marseille to West Ham and Hoffenheim, it has been reported that Meyer’s near £90,000 a week wage demands have proved a stumbling block thus far.

Eventually, either someone will stump up the cash or Meyer and his agent will reduce their demands. He’s far too good a player not to have a club by the start of the season.