We’re not even at the end of the European football season yet and already the rumour mill is circulating ahead of the summer transfer window. With the Champions League final taking place at the end of the month, and the domestic leagues looking all but finished, teams will be looking to rebuild ahead of the next campaign, especially with new managers coming in and players’ contracts coming to an end.
It will be interesting to see which deals get completed over the next few months, and judging from last season, where both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo completed big moves, it’s anyone’s guess as to where the big names in football could end up. Erling Haaland has already made his move to Manchester City after being one of the hottest prospects this summer, but which other sides are in desperate need of securing their number one transfer targets? Read on, as we look at which clubs need to bolster their ranks this summer.
Manchester United
There was a time where Manchester United were top of the football odds every summer to win the Premier League, but having been trophyless for five seasons now the Red Devils look a shell of their former selves and have turned to Ajax manager Erik ten Hag as the solution. The Dutchman will have his work cut out for him though, and signings will certainly need to be made if United want to be taken seriously as a top four side.
Despite spending big money on Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and Raphaël Varane last summer, United need major reinforcements in attack, with Marcus Rashford and the now departed Edinson Cavani struggling to create a genuine goal threat, leading to the overreliance on Ronaldo, who turns 38 next year. United will need an attack-minded right-back and a proper holding midfielder as well, with Nemanja Matić, Jesse Lingard and Juan Mata all leaving at the end of the season.
Borussia Dortmund
As previously mentioned, Borussia Dortmund are in dire need of a revamp this summer, with or without Marco Rose. While it looks like they’ve replaced Haaland well with Karim Adeyemi, who arrives at the Signal Iduna Park from RB Salzburg, they also secured Niklas Süle for free at the end of his deal with Bayern Munich in a bid to become genuine Bundesliga title challengers once again.
Having dropped out of the Champions League underwhelmingly and with an ageing squad that hasn’t won the league in over a decade now, you get the sense that more money will need to be spent if Dortmund are to compete with the Bavarians next season. Strengthening further in attack will be a priority, with Giovanni Reyna and Jude Bellingham exciting prospects, but still not as experienced as they need to be to maintain a title challenge. Dortmund have already been linked with Ismaël Gharbi and Sébastien Haller this summer.
Juventus
How the Old Lady have fallen. A combination of overspending and inconsistency on the pitch has led to a dark couple of years for Juventus fans, and in his second stint at the club, Massimiliano Allegri is having a hard time repairing the damage of the last couple of coronavirus-inflicted seasons under Andrea Pirlo.
Losing Ronaldo didn’t help either and while attempts have been made to sign a new striker with Dušan Vlahović joining from Fiorentina at a reported £75 million, things haven’t worked out for the Serbian who has failed to paper over the cracks of Juve’s inadequacy, especially if Paulo Dybala leaves. This is an old squad that simply needs gutting and starting fresh, with too many players on high wages. It looks like it will be some time before we see Juventus as the top side in Italy unless they get their act together this window.