Five players with Prem experience who can be signed now, including ‘wonderful’ forward Klopp ‘lied to’ | OneFootball

The January transfer window has closed but there are free agents with ample Premier League experience on the market, including a Manchester United cult hero.

A “wonderful player” Liverpool “lied to” is also available for Arne Slot to transform into a passable right-back.

And one of the most decorated England players of his or any generation – presumably fuelled by absurdly powerful levels of bitterness – can be picked up without a fee at just 31.

Raheem Sterling

With more than 650 professional games in his 31-year-old legs, it is perhaps inevitable that Sterling would be slowing down at this juncture. But Chelsea expedited the process with a bomb squad label which could only be forcibly removed with his mutual release 18 months later.

Moving to Stamford Bridge in the first place can only go down as one of the worst decisions ever, entirely derailing one of the finest careers ever accomplished by an English player.

His call to engineer an early exit was far wiser, granting Sterling more time to pick between options as eclectic as Napoli, Spurs, Union Berlin and FC Palm City.

As heartening as it would be to see him find a Premier League home which allows him to thrive again and far more importantly make Behdad Eghbali and Todd Boehly look remarkably foolish, a jaunt abroad might suit Sterling’s current skillset better.

Linking up with Scott McTominay and Kevin de Bruyne and joining Antonio Conte’s band of Premier League misfits does sound fun.

Kurt Zouma

The West Ham captain less than two years ago – including in a European quarter-final – Zouma finds himself without a club and very possibly having his desperate calls ignored by David Moyes.

Newcastle were linked with the Premier League winner recently but it would take a particularly brave Premier League club to bring back such a controversial figure who has done little to suggest he is worth the hassle.

A loan at Al-Orobah ended in Saudi Pro League relegation, while the termination of his CFR Cluj contract four games into a two-year deal allowed the Romanian club to write off a “very high salary”, according to the Director of Football who presumably sanctioned it.

Jesse Lingard

A spokesman for the West Ham board has branded the speculation surrounding returns for Zouma and Lingard as “rubbish”. It does feel like Nuno Espirito Santo would take a significant amount of convincing to give either move the green light.

In the case of Lingard the narrative temptation is obvious. His five months in East London remains one of the great January loans, with an absurd nine goals in 16 games for the Hammers the most productive season of his career until 2024/25.

Lingard reached double figures in his second campaign with FC Seoul before calling time on an “unbelievable” spell in South Korea, with the club simply saying he had “conveyed his desire to move on to the next stage of his football career”.

It is not yet clear precisely where that will take the former Manchester United forward. Feyenoord, Genoa and Wolves have all been mentioned.

Score the goals to keep the Molineux club up and get that World Cup 2026 plane ticket booked.

Ryan Kent

“I want to kick-start my career somewhere now. I am tired of changing clubs each year, I want to settle down somewhere,” Kent said in summer 2019, with his stock peaking at an apparent £12m valuation after a successful loan at Rangers.

Steven Gerrard wanted him back. Marcelo Bielsa probably wound up Frank Lampard by personally scouting the forward during a pre-season which ended with Jurgen Klopp praising Kent, “a wonderful kid, a wonderful player”, for some “sensational moments”.

But that was the precursor to a bitter departure, with Kent claiming he was “lied to” by the Reds when he finally pitched up permanently at Ibrox.

His fifth loan from Anfield seemed to unlock a promising spell in Scotland but Kent eventually fell out of favour and his contract was allowed to expire after four years.

Kent signed a contract of the same length with Fenerbahce which was terminated by mutual agreement within 16 months, while Seattle Sounders opted not to extend his one-year stay in MLS.

Still only 29, Kent is probably waiting for Gerrard to rock up somewhere first.

James Rodriguez

It appears as though Rodriguez has decided upon Minnesota United as his 13th club, and seventh in the last six years, all in different countries.

That makes sense: a short-term MLS stay in the lead up to a World Cup in North and Central America allows time to build match fitness while attuning to the challenges posed by the climate.

Rodriguez has used club football to prolong his international career and as the Colombia captain who excelled at the most recent Copa America and in World Cup qualifying, few would argue it hasn’t worked.

Perhaps not for the teams who take him on; Everton might be able to share notes with Al-Rayyan, Olympiacos, Sao Paulo, Rayo Vallecano and Leon on how affording and accommodating a talent so mercurial can ultimately cause more problems than it solves.

But we will always have the Everton lockdown season. Admittedly basically just the first month, which will always be enough to make him one of our most beloved Premier League transfers ever