How World Cup 2026 will impact summer signings and other transfer trends to watch | OneFootball

The World Cup 2026 will have a major impact on this summer’s transfer window due to some overlap of the market opening and the dates of the tournament.

With so many top players also set to be in action for their national teams on the biggest stage, we’re sure to see the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City and other giants of the game taking a look at who flourishes in this competition.

Our team of writers at CaughtOffside pride ourselves on being transfer market experts, having years of experience covering the ins and outs of the biggest deals, more recently with the help of leading journalists such as Fabrizio Romano and Christian Falk, and sources from inside the industry that we’ve build up over time.

With that in mind, here’s a look at some transfer trends to keep a close eye on this summer as the World Cup and other factors come into play for what promises to be an intriguing window…

Transfer window dates

Firstly, some key dates – the World Cup starts on 11th June and ends on 19th July.

The transfer window opens on 15th June and ends on 1st September.

Players out of contract will officially become free agents on 30th June.

The World Cup ‘tax’

How many times have we seen a player have a great World Cup, land a massive transfer on the back of it, and then fade into obscurity?

Many fans will perhaps think back to the best recent example, which was James Rodriguez in the 2014 tournament, when he won the Golden Boot with some stunning displays for Colombia, earning a big move to Real Madrid later in the summer.

And while it would be a bit harsh to say Rodriguez was a flop at the Bernabeu, it would probably be fair to say that that tournament was still when things peaked for him. The playmaker had some good moments for Real, but nothing that spectacular, and ended up falling out of favour before going out on loan to Bayern Munich for what proved to be another underwhelming two years.

Sofyan Amrabat’s fine form for Morocco at the last World Cup surely helped him earn that move to Manchester United, but he proved to be a big disappointment. Enzo Fernandez’s price tag for his move to Chelsea was also surely massively over-inflated after his victory with Argentina.

Selling clubs will know that they have the chance to make even more money if they don’t sell too early this summer, as players shining at the World Cup could allow them to charge significantly more money for them.

Tournament tapping-up?

It might not be allowed, but we all know it happens – tapping-up is very much a key part of any modern football transfer, and players spending time together at international camps is a perfect opportunity for one club’s player getting into a transfer target’s ear.

There was recently some talk of Harry Maguire speaking to Elliot Anderson during England duty, though in the end the Man United defender didn’t get a call-up. Advantage Manchester City?

This is sure to be something to keep an eye on again this year – even if it’s not the decisive stage of a transfer, it can sow early seeds as clubs will likely welcome their own players sounding out teammates to see if there’s any interest in a summer move.

Premier League pulling power

The Premier League is arguably stronger than ever, with three English teams reaching all three European finals this season, and nine teams from the top flight set to compete in the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League next term.

There’s already a lot of money in coming to a Premier League club, which often gives English sides an edge over their European rivals, and all these teams being able to offer some form of European football is also surely going to be decisive.

At the same time, it shouldn’t be overstated that the current gruelling schedule here could cause someone like Eli Junior Kroupi to look at the situation a little differently.

Courted by both Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain, Kroupi is understood to be leaning towards the latter of the two Champions League finalists. This could perhaps be because of the Frenchman’s desire to return to his home country, but PSG can also sell a pretty enticing project to players like that – come to Ligue 1 and pick up a winners’ medal for minimal effort, with plenty of opportunities to rest due to the lack of competition, and focus on being fresh for a possible third Champions League title in a row.

By contrast, Arsenal were pretty exhausted after such a long season by the time it came to playing against PSG in Budapest, so Kroupi and other similar talents could do well to consider if it’s really worth playing so many fiercely competitive games in English football’s relentless and unforgiving calendar.

Tactics shift

Tactics are always evolving, and there’s been a noticeable shift in the last year or so towards more physical football dominated by set-plays, particularly in the Premier League.

This means clubs will be thinking two things this summer – where are the players best suited to these tactics, and are there any who could prove an antidote to them?

Despite getting a lot of joy out of these tactics himself, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has already signalled publicly that his next step is to try emulating what PSG’s attacking players are doing on the ball, so perhaps this new era will be short-lived.

It’s still early days yet, but keep an eye on how clubs recruit within this tactical landscape – will everyone be on the hunt for the best corner takers, and tall players with a proven aerial threat? Or will we see a switch to signing incisive technical players who can unlock those low blocks or get around them by out-performing their xG?

Defender domino

Sometimes transfer trends really are a simple domino effect – if there is early movement in one position, then that can start a chain of deals as clubs look for replacements, and then those replacements themselves need replacing.

This summer we are likely to see a defender domino as Ibrahima Konate is confirmed as leaving Liverpool at the end of his contract, with an agreement in place for him to join Real Madrid.

This now means Liverpool are sure to be in the market for a new centre-back, and clubs will know it. We can probably expect to see names like Maxence Lacroix, Murillo, and Joel Ordonez linked, meaning their clubs will start looking for replacements too. It doesn’t always work out, though – just remember Deadline Day last summer when LFC thought they’d got the Marc Guehi deal over the line, only for Crystal Palace to pull the plug as they couldn’t find the replacement they needed.