14 transfers you may have missed during the World Cup group stage | OneFootball

Admit it, we’ve all been caught up in the World Cup bubble – even if we thought we wouldn’t.

The group stage of the 2026 tournament is now complete, with usual suspects like France, Spain, Argentina and yes, England, all going through. It was quite hard not to, to be fair. But try telling that to Uruguay, who have been knocked out already, or the likes of Scotland, South Korea and Turkey.

Amidst all the action in North America, though, there’s been the small matter of a transfer window opening.

You’ll have seen some of the big moves, of course. Anthony Gordon to Barcelona. Marc Cucurella to Real Madrid. You may have even spotted Jan Paul van Hecke to Tottenham.

But which moves might have gone under the radar? We’ve picked out 13 that you might have missed since the World Cup started.

Costinha to Brighton

We’ll stick in the Premier League to start with and Brighton have paid £11m to sign Costinha from Olympiacos.

He’s a 26-year-old right-back praised for his “defensive reliability, energy down the right flank and growing influence in possession,” according to the club’s announcement of his move.

Costinha should effectively replace Joel Veltman, who was released at the end of his Seagulls contract.

Martin Dubravka to Tottenham

This one all happened pretty fast.

News of Dubravka’s move to Spurs broke on Wednesday morning and later that same day, the club confirmed his arrival on a free transfer.

With bags of experience from his time with Newcastle, Manchester United and Burnley, the 37-year-old will be a backup keeper for Spurs.

Vedat Muriqi to Fenerbahce

We knew Mallorca would find it hard to keep Muriqi after he was the second top scorer in La Liga last season but they suffered relegation.

The Kosovo international, now 32, has completed a return to Fenerbahce, where he previously scored 17 goals from 36 games in the 2019-20 season before a dreadful two-goal spell with Lazio and his renaissance in the Balearics.

Afonso Moreira to Bayer Leverkusen

Afonso Bastardo Moreira, to give him his full name – yes, really – is the biggest signing in the Bundesliga so far this summer after costing Bayer Leverkusen up to €33.6m.

A Portugal U21 winger who came through the Sporting CP academy, Moreira scored eight goals in the only season he spent with Lyon.

Diogo Sousa to Strasbourg

Nope, we’ve never heard of him either, but he’s a Strasbourg player now and that inevitably means he’s a name Chelsea fans might have to become familiar with in the future.

Sousa is a 20-year-old midfielder who moved from his hometown club, Vitoria Guimaraes.

Inaki Pena to Panathinaikos

Pena spent the season on loan at Elche from Barcelona, where he previously played 45 times for the first team.

But the goalkeeper is leaving Spain altogether to sign for Greek side Panathinaikos on a three-year contract.

Michael Cuisance to Lens

Cast your mind back to 2020 and you may remember Cuisance failing a medical to rule out a move to Leeds United.

As a Bayern Munich player at the time, he would have been a coup for Leeds at the time, but his career since hasn’t reached the heights he’d have hoped for.

After spells with Venezia and Hertha BSC, the French midfielder – still only 26 – has signed a four-year contract with Lens.

It’ll be his first time playing in France since he spent most of the 2020-21 season on loan at Marseille after his collapsed Leeds move.

Giulian Biancone to Anderlecht

Biancone was one of Nottingham Forest’s 20-something signings in the summer they returned to the Premier League, but he only went on to play three times for them.

After moving to Evangelos Marinakis’ other club, Olympiacos, in 2023, the French defender has now become Anderlecht’s first summer signing.

Sam Greenwood to Bristol City

Former Arsenal academy and Leeds United player Greenwood is back in English football after a season in Poland with Pogon Szczecin.

Bristol City are the club to have signed the attacking midfielder, who reunites with his former Leeds U21s boss, Michael Skubala.

Sergio Canales to Racing Santander

A nostalgic one, this.

Racing Santander have celebrated their promotion back to La Liga after 14 years by bringing back their old academy graduate Canales.

Since leaving them as a teenager in 2010, the attacking midfielder has played for Real Madrid, Valencia, Real Sociedad and Real Betis, before spending the past three years in Mexico with Monterrey.

Now 35, he has jumped at the chance to return to Racing, for whom he previously played 39 times and scored seven goals.

Andre Silva to Porto

Like Canales, Silva has returned to the club whose academy he came through – in his case, Porto.

The striker scored 24 goals from 58 games in his first spell with the club before leaving for AC Milan in 2017 and flopping.

His career since has been spent between Germany and Spain, with a spell at Eintracht Frankfurt doing the best job of restoring his reputation.

Silva scored 10 goals with Elche last season but at the age of 30 has now re-joined Porto for the upcoming season.

Wout Weghorst to FC Twente

Former Burnley and Man Utd flop Weghorst looked like he was winding down his career with Ajax, but while on World Cup duties with the Netherlands has completed a cross-Eredivisie move to FC Twente.

It’s a homecoming of sorts for Weghorst, who has never played for Twente before but was born in the local region.

After averaging 10 goals a season for Ajax over the past two years, the striker has signed a two-year deal with Twente.

Oh, and their technical director? That’s Erik ten Hag. Ah…

Connor Goldson to Apollon Limassol

Former Rangers defender Goldson spent the past two seasons with Aris Limassol in Cyprus, but has switched to their local rivals Apollon Limassol.

“Always preferred blue,” he joked after leaving a club that wear green and white.

The 33-year-old, who also used to play for Brighton, explained: “My family is happy in Limassol and I wanted to stay here. At the same time, I followed the club’s progress in recent months with the new coach and it was something that excited me. There were discussions with other clubs, but in the end, my family and I chose Apollon.”

Ronaldinho to Ravenna

Wait, what? That Ronaldinho?

Yes, that Ronaldinho.

What on earth’s going on here, then?

At the age of 46, and more than a decade since his last game as a professional footballer, former Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldinho has signed for Serie C club Ravenna.

Part of an ambitious vision by club president Ignazio Cipriani, Ravenna have confirmed Ronaldinho has signed on as a player with the ambition of scoring his final goal – although he will take on a boardroom role too.

“I cannot wait to dance with the ball,” said Ronaldinho. “Football has always been joyful for me, and I’m excited to bring that spirit to Ravenna. Let the magic begin!”

We’ll be keeping an eye out.