As the 2026\/27 season approaches, the transfer market is expected to intensify in the coming weeks. Yet for clubs looking to strengthen without paying transfer fees, the free agent pool still offers some notable names.<\/p>\n
Goalkeeper options are limited, but Stefan Ortega stands out after his short-term spell with Nottingham Forest ended without an extension following 10 appearances. \u00d8rjan Nyland is also available after an impressive World Cup campaign with Norway, while Neto, Mathew Ryan, Steven Benda and Sergio Rico are among the other unattached keepers.<\/p>\n
In defence, John Stones is the headline name. The former Man City centre back is only 32 and has been linked with Arsenal and Chelsea, although a move to Inter is described as the most likely outcome. Francesco Acerbi, Dani Carvajal and David Alaba are also on the list, with all three leaving clubs after recent spells affected by injury or age. Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu, both former Arsenal fullbacks, are free after being released by Ajax. Rapha\u00ebl Guerreiro, Tyrell Malacia, Ricardo Rdor\u00edguez and Kr\u00e9pin Diatta are also unattached.<\/p>\n
The midfield market contains several more recognisable names. Leon Goretzka leads that group after leaving Bayern Munich, while Julian Brandt is another established option now without a club. Ex-Liverpool pair Fabinho and Georginio Wijnaldum are free agents too, alongside Franck Kessi\u00e9 and Marcelo Brozovi\u0107. Philippe Coutinho, James Rodr\u00edguez, Nabil Fekir, Yves Bissouma, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Dani Ceballos, Tanguy Ndombele and Axel Witsel all feature among the available midfielders.<\/p>\n
Forward options are headed by Mohamed Salah, whose next move remains undecided after leaving Liverpool at the end of last season. Du\u0161an Vlahovi\u0107 is also available despite interest from Barcelona and others, while Jadon Sancho\u2019s exit from Manchester United leaves him in the free agency pool as well. All three could attract strong attention, though salary and signing-on costs may shape any deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A look at the leading free agents still available as clubs prepare for the 2026\/27 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18081,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[1754,1836,983],"class_list":["post-18082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analytics-stats","tag-2026-27-fixtures","tag-2026-27-premier-league","tag-agents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}