While almost all the European football championships are stopped, the year 2020 opens, this Wednesday 1st January, by the winter transfer window. It will run until January 31 in Europe and until February 28 in China and could concern several African internationals, targeted by the best European teams.
Under contract with Ajax Amsterdam until June 30, 2022, the Moroccan Hakim Ziyech, 26, has aroused the interest of many recruiters for several years. Olympique Lyonnais, AS Roma and Sevilla FC had already inquired about the elegant offensive midfielder of the Atlas Lions. Revalued by his club, where he earns around 3 million euros a year, he still likes it, especially in the Premier League: Manchester United and Tottenham are the last to look into the matter.
While Ajax, eliminated from the Champions League and transferred to the Europa League, opened the door to a departure from his prodigy, the amount of the transfer (around 70 million euros) is in the strings of the powerful British clubs . If he listens with interest to information from abroad, Hakim Ziyech does not make a transfer this winter an absolute priority. But a major sports project and a salary multiplied by two or three could change the situation.
After a fairly disappointing first half of the season, Arsenal have just hired Spanish coach Mikel Arteta, who has made recruiting a central defender one of their priorities. Considered one of the best in the job, Senegalese Kalidou Koulibaly, 28, has the profile. Under contract with Naples until June 30, 2023, he earns a very good living in Italy (6 million euros per year) and a possible transfer will not be negotiated at less than 70 million euros. But the player trained at FC Metz is also in the sights of Paris-Saint-Germain (but rather for next summer), Manchester United, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Manchester City (who had already tried to attract the defender last summer). Will Arsenal get everyone to agree this winter?
Naples, which is going through a complicated period, no longer seems to embody the future for the Algerian Faouzi Ghoulam, 28. Deprived of the 2019 African Cup of Nations due to injury, the defender plays little in Italy. Under contract until June 30, 2022, the former Saint-Etienne player will have to seek playing time elsewhere if he wants to find the Fennecs. His club will not oppose a departure, either as a loan or as part of a dry transfer.
And if its market value, estimated for a time at 25 million euros, has been lowered due to his physical troubles, the Algerian remains a safe bet. Marseille and Inter Milan, in particular, are convinced of this, even if no official steps have been taken. Because the player’s annual salary (excluding bonuses), estimated at 3 million euros, constitutes an obstacle for potential buyers, who might be tempted to get loaned to Faouzi Ghoulam with partial payment of his emoluments by Naples. Negotiations promise to be close …
You can have won the Coupe de France (with Rennes, in April) and the African Cup of Nations (with Algeria, in July) and find yourself unemployed. Proof with defenseman Mehdi Zeffane, 27, who has had no club since the end of his contract on June 30. The player, who had been approached in the fall by Al-Sadd (Qatar), has a good chance of bouncing back in Ligue 1. He has the advantage of being free and of not having excessive salary claims, which has not escaped certain French clubs. The OGC Nice, but especially FC Nantes, seem the best placed to welcome the 2019 African champion. Mehdi Zeffane, who has lost his place in the selection, will have to find a club as soon as possible if he wants to again be part of the plans of Djamel Belmadi, the uncompromising coach of the Fennecs.
Two years ago, Cédric Bakambu left Villarreal CF for the Beijing Guoan in a record transfer of 74 million euros, with an annual salary of 18 million euros. But the Congolese striker (DRC), aware that the level of the Chinese championship is very far from what he experienced in France, Turkey and Spain, does not close the door to a return to Europe. In Asia, the 28-year-old has lost none of his effectiveness, with 38 goals scored since his arrival in all competitions. And Cédric Bakambu said that he missed Villareal, where he left an excellent memory (2015-2018). The Spanish would not be against it, but not at any price, while the Chinese will probably not let it go for less than 20 million euros.
Also to follow:
- The Ivorian striker Salomon Kalou, little used by Hertha Berlin, was asked to find another club.
- The Ghanaian striker Abdul Majeed Waris (FC Porto) interests French clubs (Nantes, Strasbourg, Metz), but the amount of the transfer (5 million euros) constitutes a brake.
- South African striker Percy Tau (Bruges) is followed by several Turkish formations.
- The Senegalese Cheikh Niasse, under contract in Lille, has been targeted by Rennes and two foreign clubs (Watford in England and Mainz in Germany), as RMC revealed.
