The Premier League’s transfer window may be closed until Jools Holland hits our screens in the New Year but, fortunately for the likes of Salomon Rondon, Nathan Redmond and Morgan Sanson, there are still a couple of escape routes available for players desperate for a fresh start and a new challenge.
Teams in Russia and Turkey can still sign new players until Thursday’s cut-off point. The Greek window shuts next week. The likes of Porto, Sporting Lisbon and Benfica, meanwhile, have until September 22nd to finalise their own squads.
So here are nine players who could still be jetting out before the October arrives.
Nathan Redmond – Southampton
After playing just one minute of football during Southampton’s first six games of the new season, who can blame Redmond for considering his options? The former England U21 international has agreed a one-year deal at Besiktas, the Turkish giants paying a ‘nominal’ sum to free Redmond from the final 10 months of his St Mary’s contract (Daily Mail).
According to reports, Redmond will take a sizeable pay cut too. Besiktas are offering less than half the £65,000-a-week he allegedly earns on the South Coast.
Morgan Sanson – Aston Villa
Sanson’s proposed move to Espanyol fell through at the eleventh hour recently. After falling even further down Steven Gerrard’s pecking order at Villa Park, the £16 million forgotten man will be praying that history does not repeat itself.
Galatasaray want Sanson on loan.
Should he arrive in Istanbul, he will be joining a whole host of big-name players in red-and-yellow. Gala have already signed Lucas Torreira, Sergio Oliveira, Dries Mertens and France international Leo Dubois, while Mauro Icardi is also on his way from Paris Saint-Germain.
Marvelous Nakamba – Aston Villa
Who knows; if Arsenal hadn’t gone in for Douglas Luiz on the final day of the window, perhaps Nakamba would already have bid farewell to life in the Midlands. Gerrard reportedly blocked the Zimbabwe international from joining Nottingham Forest or Fulham due to concerns over Luiz’s future.
Now, with the former Manchester City youngster now certain to stay until January at the earliest, Aston Villa are unlikely to stand in Nakamba’s way if he catches the eye of clubs in Greece, Turkey, Russia or Portugal.
Frederic Guilbert – Aston Villa
A couple of months ago, the one-time Fulham target indicated that he did not expect to play for Aston Villa again. That prediction may prove to be on the money. Guilbert has not been spotted in claret-and-blue for over two years, and is currently training with Villa’s second string.
But, albeit not for a lack of trying, the seldom-seen right-back is still stuck at Bodymoor Heath, a number of Ligue 1 clubs opting against freeing Guilbert from his Villa Park shackles. A player of his talents – the 27-year-old shone on loan at Strasbourg last season – deserves better than to waste five months of his career gathering dust in the reserves.
Salomon Rondon – Everton
Per Pete O’Rourke, the veteran Venezuelan is a target for a number of Turkish-based clubs with the transfer window still open.
Few at Goodison Park – including Frank Lampard himself – will be too unhappy to see Rondon go. It’s telling that, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin absent, the Toffees boss opted to field Anthony Gordon and Dwight McNeil through the middle rather than turn to a man who’s lost a yard of pace he didn’t have in the first place.
Caglar Soyuncu – Leicester City
Two years ago, Soyuncu was one of the most exciting young defenders in the Premier League. After an error-strewn 2021/22 campaign, the Turkish international cannot buy a start these days, even as Leicester continue to haemorrhage goals at a remarkable rate. Soyuncu wasn’t included in Brendan Rodgers’ squad for Sunday’s 5-2 thumping at Brighton and Hove Albion.
A September switch to Galatasaray feels unlikely as things stand, however, with the Cimbom closing in on Kaan Ayhan instead.
Loic Mbe Soh, Cafu, Lyle Taylor – all Nottingham Forest
Last month, Josh Bowler and Hwang Ui Jo both left Forest to join their Greece-based sister club on loan. They’re unlikely to be the last taking the well-trodden path from Nottingham to Piraeus either.
“My understanding is that they’re looking at sending a few more players out (to Olympiakos),” reporter Graeme Bailey explains.
“That’s possible because the Greek window has another few days to go. I expect at least another couple to go on loan to Olympiakos in the next week or so.”
The most obvious candidates, Soh, Cafu and Taylor, have played just six minutes of Premier League football between them in 2022/23. A lorry-load of new arrivals at the City Ground during the summer transfer window means three of last season’s promotion winners have no real choice but to leave this month if they want regular first-team football between now and the New Year.
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