There Are Some Big Names Stuck at Big Clubs—Can Any of Them Be Set Free?

In the final two days of the January transfer window, a late rumour cropped up. Gareth Bale was suddenly linked with a move back to Tottenham Hotspur.

On one hand, it should not really have surprised any of us—he's linked with a move to the Premier League pretty much every transfer window. Yet this time it felt different. It felt there might be some truth to it.

The deadline passed and Bale remains a Real Madrid player, but sources have indicated to Bleacher Report that whispers of Bale reuniting with Spurs did indeed have some foundation. Two credible B/R insiders told how there were low level discussions over what terms would be needed, and that Spurs chairman Daniel Levy and manager Jose Mourinho had both been open to the idea of a Bale return, but it just did not prove possible. 

A transfer fee could probably have been sorted, but it's the player's individual wage that can't be matched.

Bale earns around £600,000 a week, and while Spurs might well be willing to break their wage structure to fit him in, they just could not find a way to meet his astronomical personal demands.

It's becoming a familiar story for elite players who make high-profile transfers to elite clubs but start to see their careers stagnate. 

The big-name talent is getting stuck. Bale is an example of this pattern, and he's joined by an all-star cast that should be able to walk into any football club in the world.

Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, Philippe Coutinho and Paul Pogba are all suffering similar frustration, and you could even argue Neymar, maybe even Kylian Mbappe, are now in a position where the escape route is pretty much blocked. 

The superstars are earning such huge sums of money, and command such high fees, that their potential landing spots can pretty much be counted on one hand—and even the super clubs that can afford them still have to be wary of UEFA's financial fair play rules, so they are limited in what they can do.  

The official word from Bale's camp is that he will now see out his contract in Madrid, which ends in 2022. But what about these other big names? Surely some of this elite talent will move on soon.

Neymar

This is a great example of how a player forced a major transfer, began to consider that it might not have been the best idea for his career so tried to get back to where he came from.

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Neymar moved to Paris Saint-Germain in a €222 million transfer in 2017, but in June last year he began to angle for a way back to Barcelona. 

He was willing to accept a wage drop, after all there was no way he could earn more than Lionel Messi at Barcelona. But the fee had to suit PSG too, and the Qatari owners would drop as low as €200 million on a cash deal.

Even with that in mind, Barca still had to find those funds, and the signing of Antoine Griezmann made that tricky. Neymar even offered to pay €20 million himself to make the deal happen, and it still didn't go through—and since then he's been coming to terms with the fact he is stuck.

In fairness, he has had a good season with 15 goals and 10 assists in 18 appearances while adapting to the city and is enjoying his life, according to sources. He seems to accept that the opportunity to team up again with Messi and Luis Suarez is gone—but he also is realising life at PSG might suit him after all. 

Paul Pogba

A truly gifted footballer, but one who just cannot find a way to suit Manchester United. After returning to the club from Juventus in 2016 it seemed he would become an idol.

But Pogba is not happy at United. He has tried to make the move work but now wants to leave. His agent, Mino Raiola, does all the talking on his behalf while Pogba conducts himself brilliantly around the club, according to insiders. Sources say everyone knows he wants to leave, but the conditions of a sale have not been met over the past year—so Pogba has been stuck.

Injuries have not helped—he's played just eight times this season—and United fans have been frustrated by the fact one of their truly elite players has not been able to help them during a tough season.

Will he actually get the transfer he now wants? Of all the players discussed here, he is most confident of getting his way.

B/R has been told there is every belief Real Madrid intend to make an offer close to the £100 million United value him at. One source indicated that this has to happen because it's looking like his only real hope of a permanent move.

Philippe Coutinho

Coutinho is an example of a player who has the chance to move but still can't find a home.

Barcelona loaned him out to Bayern Munich at the start of the season, and it seemed a pretty good deal for the German club, who paid a loan fee of £7.8 million for a man who had been bought from Liverpool for £142 million just 18 months earlier.

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He was happy to be away from the Camp Nou but has not set the world alight at Bayern, though he has seven goals and eight assists so far this season.

Sources insist Bayern do not intend to take up the €120 million ( £118 million) option to sign him. They are looking at the likes of Leroy Sane, Kai Havertz, Dayot Upamecano and Sergino Dest for the summer market instead, so Barcelona are beginning to wonder how they will move Coutinho on. 

The player does not fancy going back to Barca, and a report from Neil Fissler of the Express suggested the club will now sell him for around £77 million just to get him off the wage bill and make room for them to sign a new elite star themselves.

But finding a buyer might be tricky, even at that fee. The feeling among some insiders is that Barca, and the player's agent, Kia Joorabchian, might also have to come up with a creative way of making the player's personal package—currently around £240,000 per week—more affordable.

Alexis Sanchez 

There was a sense of relief when Sanchez moved to Inter Milan on loan from Manchester United—both for the player and fans. A man who is the club's joint-top earner with Paul Pogba seemed to be edging away from the club and off the payroll. 

Yet all is not as it seems, and United sources are struggling to see any way that Alexis completes a transfer this summer. They might be stuck with him.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's recent comments on Alexis were surprising. He said: "Alexis will come back in the summer and prove you all wrong." He directed the message at the British press, yet it is surely United who gave up on him and loaned him out. 

Anyway, B/R understands Sanchez is available for transfer, but Inter would only want to make up a small portion of his wages if they were to have any interest in making the deal permanent. The would leave United to pick up the rest of his bill to pay off the final two years of his contract.

It's not much of an enticing proposition, and so it could be that Alexis really is back at United later this year.

Mesut Ozil

Many Arsenal fans want to see the back of a player who earns £350,000 per week and offers little in return. He has not scored a goal since last April and is limiting the club's ability to bring in new talent.

The problem is that they are stuck with Ozil because he is not desperate to leave. Sources have consistently indicated to B/R that the player enjoys his life in London and really likes Arsenal as a club. Of course, there have been frustrations in terms of his output and playing time, but he has always believed he can turn things around.

Another issue is that offers for the player have been hard to come by. No one in the Premier League will touch him, and the most genuine interest has come from Turkey and USA.

As one source explained: "There are people at Arsenal who want to push him out, and next summer would be their last chance to realistically sell him. It's all a bit of a mess, but if leaves it'll probably be for the MLS. D.C United have had promising discussions." 

Mikel Arteta thought he might be able to bring Ozil back to life this season, and although there have been a few flashes of brilliance, we are nearing a time when the player admits he can no longer stay stuck at Emirates Stadium.

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