Just like every year, football fans entered 2021 eager to read up on the various transfers among the top clubs, hoping to predict and eventually experience a legendary change in history. And as the events of this year’s transfer season unfolded, none seemed to be disappointed this year as these transfers are bound to undeniably transform the league. From Ronaldo finally returning to Manchester United and Messi surprisingly and tearfully leaving Barcelona after years, this season was nothing short of a rollercoaster. And guiding you through it, is Perspectoverse’s Aahi Guha Thakurta, with some of the most interesting and significant transfers pertaining to the top clubs which you must read up on before the season!
Arsenal
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Aaron Ramsdale: Aaron Ramsdale, aged 23, holds the position of a goalkeeper. His transfer from Sheffield United to Arsenal has only recently closed, upon negotiation on Sheffield’s part (willing to let Ramsdale go for a lesser price of 24M pounds + 6M add-on.) Although he is not considered the best goalkeeper, predictions declare that his technique upon collaboration with the Arsenal defence would prove to be valuable. In addition to that, Ramsdale has a lot of experience at a young age which matches Arsenal’s alleged criteria of “buying young” (recruiting younger players).
Martin Odegaard: Martin Odegaard, aged 22 and holding the position of midfielder, has completed his transfer from Real Madrid to Arsenal, rounding up close to 40m euros. He proves to be just the creative reinforcement in midfield that Arsenal requires which is why he was their main target this season. Arsenal requires a strong, almost flawless team this year due to some drastic losses including losing their opener to Brentford. Odegaard is rumoured to be signing a contract which shall last till 2026.
Manchester United
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Jadon Sancho- Jadon Sancho, aged 21, holding the position of forward has made his transfer to Manchester United from Dortmund rounding up a huge sum of 100M dollars. Hans-Joachim Watzke, the chief executive of Dortmund spoke out on the matter, saying that Sancho longed to return to his home country, England and join Manchester United. Sancho has already signed a contract that will keep him in Old Trafford till 2026. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Manchester United’s manager, believes that Sancho will bring the required creativity in the team. His impressive goal and assist record (16 goals and 20 assists in 38 games during the 2020-21 season) also remains an advantage.
Tom Heaton- Tom Heaton, aged 35, occupies the position of goalkeeper and has recently made a free transfer to Manchester United from Aston Villa. The goalkeeper is quite excited to be returning to the club he was trained in for a period of 13 years. Heaton spent six years at Burnley and won three caps for the team before transferring to Villa which goes to show his value in the 2021 Manchester United team.
A significant highlight includes Cristiano Ronaldo finally returning to Manchester United, which has been elaborated later.
Barcelona
Yusuf Demir- Yusuf Demir, aged only 18, holds the position of forward in the team. Recently, Barcelona decided to accept him into the team permanently due to his highly impressive performance. He was initially recruited under a loan of less than a million euros but after a commendable performance against Bilbao, Barcelona decided to make it official and offered to pay a sum of 10 million euros for the young player. Although this clause will be activated only at the end of the season, managers in Barcelona are determined to include Demir in their permanent squad; they believe that his smooth dribbling skills in the wings would prove to be an advantage.
Sergio Aguero- Sergio Aguero, aged 33, holding the position of forward in the team has recently made a free transfer to Barcelona from Manchester City., after spending 10 years with the latter and scoring 184 goals from 275 appearances. The fresh contract is alleged to end during July 2023, and also contains a buy-out clause of 100M euros. Aguero will prove to be a valuable member in Barcelona due to his distinguished technique and impressive statistics from his previous games- for example, upon initially joining Manchester City in 2011, he became the club’s all-time leading goal-scorer, scoring 260 times and assisting the club in winning five Premier League titles.
Other significant highlights include the recruiting of Memphis Depay to make up for drastic losses and a sudden separation of Barcelona and Messi which left the star-player himself emotional and tearful.
Real Madrid
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Eduardo Camavinga- Eduardo Camavinga, aged 18 and holding the position of midfielder, is set to transfer to Real Madrid from Rennes. Only the final stages of the transfer are left, wherein the two clubs work out the small, less exclusive details and initiate the required negotiations. Despite his young age, Camavinga came into the spotlight in Rennes in 2019 and has already played two whole seasons of prime league football, proving to be a lot of experience for his age. His refined technique and prolonged time for improvement will prove to be valuable to the team. Rennes was aware that Camavinga would most likely reject the idea of renewing his contract with them and has therefore offered to provide less than 46 million euros for his transfer.
David Alaba- David Alaba, aged 28, holds the position of left-back defender in the team. He has recently finalized his free transfer to Real Madrid from Bayern Munich, signing a contract that is to last for five years, rounding up a sum of 11M euros each season during the course of the contract. Alaba’s true essence lies in his defending skills as well as versatility but alongside, he has also managed to score an impressive total of 35 goals for Bayern Munich, making him even more valuable to Madrid. Alaba is highly talented and desired, so much so that most of the top clubs showed interest in him (like Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Paris-Saint German etc).
Now, this transfer season came with its fair share of highlights and significant events that may ultimately change the course of history. A few particularly important ones are listed below:
Ronaldo returns to Manchester United- World-famous football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has signed with Manchester United for a second time after withdrawing from Juventus. He is set to sign a two year deal with the team. Ronaldo expressed his excitement for his return as well as the overwhelming respect he had for Manchester United even while playing against them. He has reported to receive a boatload of positive messages from his fans congratulating him on his historic return and is very much looking forward to playing at Old Trafford again.
Manchester United is a club that has always had a special place in my heart, and I have been overwhelmed by all the messages I have received since the announcement on Friday. I cannot wait to play at Old Trafford in front of a full stadium and see all the fans again.
Cristiano Ronaldo, 2021
Messi’s tearful goodbye to Barcelona- Messi was originally all set to sign with Barcelona for the coming season until it was found out in the mast minute that his contract could not be considered due to financial strain upon the club. After emotionally separating from his teammates, Messi swiftly signed with Paris Saint-Germain, who are now sure of posing a great threat to their opponents over the course of the season since they had acquired one of the best and most legendary players in the history of football.
In addition to these significant transfers, a special mention can be made to the transfer of Memphis Depay, a versatile, youthful player, to Barcelona. Memphis Depay has proven to be highly valuable to Barcelona due to the tragic transfers the club has been facing like having to let go of Messi only due to their financial issues.
Written by Aahi Guha Thakurta
Illustrated by Nishtha Dayal
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