In 1995, the Bosman ruling changed the game of football. Essentially, the ruling allowed a player to leave their club once their contract ran out without their old club receiving a transfer fee. The “free transfer” is something we take for granted in today’s game but it wasn’t always the standard as Sky Sports outlines in this piece about the impact of the rule.
With that background information, Onefootball‘s Bosman XI should make a lot of sense to you. Their list features the best players that will be available for free next summer unless their current clubs extend their contracts before the end of the season.
The first Paris Saint-Germain player included is right-back Thomas Meunier. Goal reported that former PSG manager Unai Emery was interested in his services at Arsenal last summer but that never materialized. The Belgian was also linked to Manchester United, Everton, and several other clubs per an interview he did with Belgian outlet l’Avenir. French football reporter Jeremy Smith translated the interview in a tweet:
Meunier: "It would annoy me to finish like that [Meunier is currently out injured], rather than in a happy ending."
On links to PL, inc Man Utd, Everton: "I've never hidden [my like for PL] and there is interest, but there's been interest from everywhere, inc China, Middle East."— Jeremy Smith (@jeremysmith98) April 23, 2019
Meunier has never been a fan-favorite at PSG ever since he “liked” a tweet about Olympique de Marseille according to ESPN. If you had a chance to listen to our recent podcast with ESPN FC‘s PSG correspondent, you would have heard him talk about Meunier’s desire for a contract extension but that the club doesn’t appear to be willing to do that right now. The 28-year-old could be sold this January or leave for free next summer. Very few PSG supporters will be sad to go if I’m being honest.
The complete opposite is the case with the other PSG player included in this list. Edinson Cavani is the club’s all-time leading scorer and a legend. However, at 32-years-old, his body is starting to break down. He’s had a string of muscle injuries the past year and he’s currently out now recovering from a hip injury. It’s because of those injuries that El Matador will likely not be receiving a contract extension and will be free to leave for a European club, Inter Miami in Major League Soccer, or perhaps a club in his home country of Uruguay as Johnson suggest on our recent PSG Talking podcast.
Paris Saint-Germain was very frugal this past summer as they signed Ander Herrera on a free transfer from Manchester United (PSG.fr)and Mauro Icardi arrived on loan from Inter Milan (PSG.fr). If they want to continue down this path, they may want to look at this list and see if there are any players of interest. I still like Raphaël Guerreiro even though he’s expected to sign an extension with Borussia Dortmund per their sporting director Michael Zorc at a recent press conference.
With Neymar Jr. expected to leave next summer, plus Cavani, Meunier, Thiago Silva, and potentially Kylian Mbappé, next season’s version of Paris Saint-Germain could look drastically different. Enjoy the season and let’s hope PSG can do something special before having to re-tool.
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