We really have a fascinating summer looming, given some of potential big name free agents that might be available, and especially in the centre-half market. In England we are thinking and talking about Marc Guehi, but in Europe the name many are talking about is French star Dayot Upamecano - who has really been looking the part at Bayern Munich under Vincent Kompany.
Everyone loves a bargain and the potential pool of free agents whose current deals are set to expire at the end of the 2025/26 campaign will be constantly assessed in the coming months. Once January comes around, any players in the final months of their contracts will be able to talk to overseas teams and there are a number of big-name players for whom the clock is ticking.
That was made evident with their efforts to sign Marc Guehi in the summer, they wanted him to come in as the new partner for Van Dijk. Obviously they weren't able to get Guehi in, so Konate is still a very important player for them, and they can't afford for him to keep making mistakes. I expect the manager was raging at him after that performance against Palace because he was miles off it, and that's not what they need.
Barkley has had something of an up-and-down career down the years and it's now unclear what the future could hold for him. The 31-year-old started out as a real wonderkid in his Everton days, but struggled when he later earned a big move to Chelsea. Since then, Barkley has occasionally shown signs of reviving his career in spells with Luton Town and Aston Villa, but he's now fallen down the pecking order in Unai Emery's squad again.
