The 2023 European football season is reaching its conclusion, and with it, a number of the continent’s top prizes are still yet to be decided. Both England and Germany have title battles which look set to be going down to the wire, with Manchester City and Arsenal as well as Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich battling it out for domestic glory. All three of UEFA’s elite club competitions are still yet to be decided also.
The Champions League, Europa League and Europa League and Europa Conference League are all at the semifinal stages. In the first of those three, either Manchester City or Real Madrid will square off with one of the Milan clubs in Istanbul on June 10th. In Europe’s secondary competition, Juventus or Sevilla will battle Roma or Bayer Leverkusen in Budapest on May 31st, while Fiorentina or Basel will face West Ham or AZ Alkmaar in the Conference League finale in Prague a week later.
You can visit and bet now on all the competitions with Bovada, who provides one of the best sports offerings on the internet today. They have made Pep Guardiola’s Blues the favorites for their maiden Champions League crown this season and have priced them up as +220 favorites. They are also the favorites to win the Premier League and the FA Cup this season, and should they go on to win all three trophies, they will become just the second club in the history of English football to win the vaunted treble.
Once all of the silverware has been claimed this term, the transfer window will open, and there are a number of top stars out of contract this summer. All of them may very well be on the move for absolutely nothing, which would be a hammer blow to the clubs they are currently signed for. Let’s take a look at who is available on a free transfer this summer.
Lionel Messi
The biggest name on the list is the greatest professional footballer that’s ever lived, Lionel Messi. Following two years in the French capital with Paris Saint-Germain, the little Argentina genius is out of contract this summer. As such, he could very well be on the receiving end of a free transfer for the second time in two years.
The man who led Argentina to the 2022 FIFA World Cup glory late last year is being mooted for a move back to boyhood club FC Barcelona. The Rosario-born star scored a whopping 672 goals in 778 games for the Blaugrana between 2005 and 2021, and even though he will turn 36 in June, he still has plenty left to offer the Catalonians.
Karim Benzema
The next man that is out of contract this summer is Real Madrid captain Karim Benzema. Despite bagging 26 goals in 36 games in all appearances this season, Los Blancos are yet to come to terms on a new contract for their main man, and he could be on his way out of the Santiago Bernabeu this summer, barely a year on from lifting the Balon d’Or for the first time in his career.
Throughout his 14 years in the Spanish capital, King Karim has lifted the UEFA Champions League on five separate occasions, as well as lifting La Liga on four occasions and twice winning the Copa Del Rey. It would be a massive loss for Carlo Ancelotti should his captain decide to leave, and it remains to be seen what the future holds for Real Madrid’s number nine.
Adrien Rabiot
For several years, Adrien Rabiot was considered a flop at Juventus. He joined the Turin club on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2019, however, it took him a while to establish himself as a key player at the Allianz Stadium. Over the last two years, however, he has done exactly that, and he looks to finally be realizing the enormous potential he showed a decade ago when he broke into the first team at the Parc De Princes.
Rabiot is still just 28 years of age, and this summer could see him sign his final big-money contract. Manchester United were known admirers of the Frenchman last summer, and they could throw a megamoney deal on the table this summer. With Juventus being in disarray somewhat, it’s highly likely that the 2022 World Cup runner-up will leave Turin at the end of the current campaign.
N’Golo Kante
If you ask any Chelsea fan who their best player has been throughout the last seven years, they will say N’Golo Kante. The tenacious French midfielder has lifted the Premier League, the Champions League, the Europa League and the FA Cup with the Blues since his move from Leicester City in 2016 and he remains as important as ever despite being 32 years of age.
This season, he has suffered several injury issues and has missed the majority of the campaign. He has returned to the starting eleven in recent weeks however, The Blues are enduring a particularly troublesome term in which they are in the lower half of the Premier League, closer to the relegation zone than the title race. As such, don’t be surprised to see him leave Stamford Bridge this summer.
