The close of the European market usually puts the finishing touch on weeks of rumors, negotiations, and last-minute deals. However, several renowned footballers are still without a team and still keep open the possibility of finding a new destination for a season that has just begun.
What stands out is that players of the caliber of Benzema, Sergio Ramos, or Icardi have reached this point without a team, which breaks with fans’ usual perception of big stars. It creates a mix of surprise, uncertainty, and nostalgia. Who will be the first to find a new destination?
Stars still waiting for a new destination
England, Spain, Italy, Germany, and France closed the transfer market on September 1, finalizing their main moves and also leaving several renowned footballers without a club. Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos, Dani Carvajal, Paul Pogba, Riyad Mahrez, Jadon Sancho, David Alaba, and Mauro Icardi are the most well-known and standout athletes who are still searching for their new club.
Carvajal arrives on this list with six Champions League titles won with Real Madrid. Benzema, meanwhile, was awarded the Ballon d’Or in 2022 and is even considering the possibility of retirement after terminating his contract with Al Hilal.
El futuro de Carvajal: “A día de hoy va a abandonar el Real Madrid esta temporada”
Joselu Mato, Pedro Rodríguez and Sergio Ramos are also among the experienced players whose futures are still undefined. None of them has announced their retirement, and their careers still carry significant weight in European football. The latter won 22 titles with Real Madrid, 4 titles with the Spanish national team, one of them being the World Cup, and 3 titles with Paris Saint-Germain, a tremendous career, an experience that any team would want to have.
Philippe Coutinho, at 34 years old, is currently without a team. In January 2018, FC Barcelona paid Liverpool around 120 million euros fixed, making him the most expensive signing in the club’s history; in 2019-20 he was loaned to Bayern Munich, where he was crowned European champion. His career then began to drift away from the top level and currently, after spending time at Vasco da Gama, the club where he developed, he is waiting for a new contract.
Pogba, world champion with France in 2018 and one of the most important midfielders of his generation, returned to Juventus in 2022 after his spell at Manchester United. But his second stint in Turin was marked by injuries and, later, by a positive testosterone test that ended with an 18-month suspension for doping. Juventus terminated his contract in November 2024.
In 2025, AS Monaco took a chance on him and offered him a contract until June 2027, but that did not work out either. During the 2025-26 season, he played only six matches, with injuries as his main obstacle. The club and the player terminated the contract by mutual agreement on August 19, 2026. At 33 years old, the Frenchman is once again without a team.
Although the transfer window may be over, out-of-contract players do not need two clubs to negotiate a transfer in order to join a new team. However, their chances of competing immediately in certain European tournaments may depend on the registration deadlines set by UEFA, a detail that could prove decisive for some of these footballers.
Icardi arrived in Istanbul in 2022 on loan from PSG and, after a respectable first season, Galatasaray bought him for around 10 million euros. Over four seasons he became one of the club’s greatest recent idols: he played 134 matches, scored 77 goals, and won four Turkish league titles, one Turkish Cup, and one Super Cup. In addition, he was the league’s top scorer in 2023-24 with 25 goals.
After a serious knee injury and the arrival of Victor Osimhen, negotiations to renew his contract became more complicated and his ties with Galatasaray ended on June 30, 2026. The club confirmed his departure in July, leaving as an idol, but he still has to prove that he remains decisive in order to play at the highest level.
The close of the European summer transfer window ended this Tuesday with Enzo Fernández as the main protagonist after becoming the most expensive signing in Premier League history once Manchester City paid around 145 million euros. The question now is which of these names will be the first to show that, even with the window closed, there are still transfers capable of surprising football.
