Erling Haaland will hope to make a mark at Manchester City. Photo: Javad Parsa/EPA
Durban - We are halfway through the off season and clubs across Europe have been busy trying to improve their squads ahead of the new season. This week, we will look at the top five transfers that have happened so far.
Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund to Manchester City)
The Norwegian is regarded as one of the best young players in the World and has been deemed as a potential future Ballon d’Or contender. The 21-year-old has an outrageous scoring record at club level. He scored 62 goals from 67 league goals for Dortmund. Prior to that, he bagged 17 goals from 16 league games for Red Bull Salzburg.
Haaland will be City’s number nine next season and fill the void that was created by the departure of Sergio Aguero last year.
Sadio Mane (Liverpool to Bayern Munich)
The Senegal star has ended his six year stint with Liverpool, during which he established himself as a club legend, helping the Anfield giants to win the Premier League and Champions League. At 30-years-old, Mane will bring in plenty of experience to Bayern who usually routinely win the Bundesliga. He will also add depth to the Bayern attack which could potentially lose wantaway player Robert Lewandowski soon.
Darwin Nunez (Benfica to Liverpool)
While Liverpool have lost Mane, they have brought in a talented replacement in Nunez. The Uruguayan established himself as a star last season, scoring 26 goals from 28 games for Benfica in the Portuguese league.
Nunez also caused trouble to the Liverpool defence in the Reds’ entertaining 3-3 Champions League quarter-final second leg draw against Benfica last season as he netted.
Antonio Rudiger (Chelsea to Real Madrid)
There is no doubt that Real will be aiming to successfully defend their La Liga and Champions League crown next season. The German international is a world-class defender and Madrid have claimed a steal as they have acquired him for free. Chelsea will be really upset to have lost a player of Rudiger’s stature for nothing.
Gareth Bale (Real Madrid to LAFC)
There were rumours that Bale could retire soon but he will now seemingly play on possibly for a few more years as he joins Los Angeles FC after ending his nine year spell with Real Madrid at the end of last season.
By joining LAFC, Bale will get to keep himself fit as he prepares to lead Wales in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar later this year. He will also be playing in the physically less demanding United States League while helping to raise the profile of men’s soccer in the North American nation.
@EshlinV