Ten Champions League stars in the shop window for the Premier League | OneFootball

Such are the Premier League riches these days that even your West Hams and Brentfords will be keeping a very keen eye on the Champions League last-16 ties for possible summer recruits.

We’ve picked out 10 players currently playing outside the Best League In The World who could hit the motherlode in the summer and arrive in this green, pleasant and absurdly monied land if they impress in the Champions League knockouts.

Victor Osimhen (Galatasaray)

A combination of Turkish football sniffiness and Osimhen’s evident disgust with his teammates after they limped through against the 10 men of Juventus in the second leg of their knockout play-off means the assumption persists that the Nigerian can’t wait to leave Istanbul and ply his trade for a team which matches his own outstanding quality.

The counter-point to Galatasaray stakeholders insisting they are an elite side on the basis of their qualification for the last 16 is that there’s zero chance they would be there had they not managed to sign Osimhen for €75m in the summer.

He scored six of their nine goals in the league phase, including the winner against Liverpool and all three in the 3-0 win over Ajax, before two assists in the first leg of their play-off with Juventus and then the extra-time goal to seal victory in the second leg.

There is no team remaining in the competition with a greater difference in quality between their best player and their second-best player.

Manchester United picking Rasmus Hojlund over Osimhen on the basis of AFCON commitments is one of the great transfer blunders in recent years and Arsenal would probably already have the title wrapped up had they plumped for him over Viktor Gyokeres in the summer. Maybe they can still right that wrong.

Jens Petter Hauge (Bodo/Glimt)

Bodo/Glimt might just be the all-time ‘they’re actually alright, y’know’ Champions League team and Hauge would stand a very good chance of making it into a condescension XI after six goals in 10 Champions League games this season, including one in each of the legs of their wonderful play-off victory over Inter.

He made just 24 appearances for Milan after moving to Serie A from Bodo as a 21-year-old and never really got going at Eintracht Frankfurt after that, and while those inauspicious spells should perhaps serve as a warning to Hauge, there is simply no world in which the smooth, technically gifted forward isn’t playing for the West London Scandi stronghold that is Brentford next season.

Julian Alvarez (Atletico Madrid)

Perfectly valid interest from the Premier League last summer on the back of 29 goals in his debut season for Atletico Madrid now feels forced after just 14 goals in all competitions this term.

Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea have all been linked despite Alvarez’s rate of a goal per 202 minutes this season being worse than all of Gyokeres (165), Benjamin Sesko (164) and João Pedro (155), while the Argentinian’s six assists are hardly enough to make amends for that distinctly mediocre return for an £82m striker.

The former Manchester City star does have a prime opportunity to significantly improve that ratio in the last 16 against Tottenham. Literally no-one, least of all Igor Tudor and his band of depressives, is buying Diego Simeone’s claim that the Premier League side are favourites on the basis of finishing fourth in the league phase.

Alvarez’s Premier League suitors need only look at Eberechi Eze’s stat-padding against Tottenham to give them pause for thought before making a big-money move for the 26-year-old if/when he scores several goals against Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero and whoever else happens to not be giving two shiny sh*ts about results before a summer move to a serious football club.

Lennart Karl (Bayern Munich)

Undoubtedly the greatest outcome of Premier League clubs plundering most of the top strikers along with Florian Wirtz from the Bundesliga in the summer was the gloriously salty reactions from the stakeholders of a club that’s now faced with the same reality that the relative minnows in their division have experienced at their hands for over four decades.

Bayern have won 34 league titles since 1980, with recent successes in particular built upon the idea that every German footballer wants to play for them and will do if the Bundesliga giant puts in a reasonable bid to sign them from the powerless clubs who have nurtured and developed their talent.

Old men of Bayern Munich, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeness, refused to accept that Wirtz preferred Liverpool over a move to the German giant and also baulked at the prices paid for Nick Woltemade and Hugo Ekitike.

The logical next step to further irk the embittered duo would be for a Premier League side to poach the most prodigious talent their academy has produced for a long time, certainly since Thomas Muller.

Karl got three goals and an assist in just shy of 400 minutes of action in the league phase and Liverpool are already circling.

Konrad Laimer (Bayern Munich)

Probably not the player Liverpool fans would hope to sign as revenge for Bayern pinching Luis Diaz from them ahead of the Colombian winger’s 36 goal contributions in 35 games in his debut season (ouch).

But while the immediate reaction to interest in Laimer might be to shrug or even suppress a laugh, Arne Slot – or whoever is in charge of the Reds next season – could really do with a footballer who consistently produces 7/10 performances and does so whether in midfield or at full-back.

Reports suggest Vincent Kompany is loath to let Laimer go such is the value he puts on that consistency, his engine and pressing ability, but surely anything north of £30m for a 28-year-old with one year left on his contract would be enough to at least start a discussion.

Luis Suarez (Sporting)

23 goals in 24 league games isn’t to be sniffed at, but Islam Slimani, Darwin Nunez and Gyokeres all offer reasonable arguments for a handkerchief when those goals are scored in Liga Portugal over say, La Liga, in which Suarez’s best return in four seasons was eight.

But that’s in no way going to prevent West Ham from paying £30m for the 28-year-old, who has – in fairness – also scored four Champions League goals this season, including a brace to beat holders Paris Saint-Germain.

Jarell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen)

Liverpool hold a €60m buyback option for the centre-back they sold last summer for just €35m, but can’t trigger that option until the summer of 2027.

That offers up the joyous possibility of the Reds being beaten to Quansah, who was pushed out to make way for Marc Guehi. How did that go? Alternatively they could eat humble pie and re-sign him for the extortionate price Leverkusen will presumably make them pay. Or they could just accept that they’ve let a very talented centre-back leave for no reason at all. No option reflects well on the decision-making or actions of sporting director Richard Hughes.

Leverkusen have conceded just seven goals in the nine Champions League games Quansah has played every minute of this season and shipped seven to PSG in the game he missed.

Ederson (Atalanta)

Amid the endless and already very boring speculation surrounding the fight between Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool for Adam Wharton and Elliot Anderson, the eagle-eyed will note that two into three doesn’t go, while anyone with a passing interest in the Red Devils will be clear on the need for two new central midfielders this summer.

Ederson has long been linked with a move to the Premier League as a very talented footballer plying his trade and impressing at the highest level for a renowned selling club. Recent reports have claimed £30m would be enough to bring Atalanta to the negotiating table in the summer, when the 26-year-old will have just a year left on his contract

Goncalo Inacio (Sporting)

The 24-year-old signed a new contract in December until 2030, but the cynics will very reasonably suggest that’s little more than a move to ensure Sporting get a tidy packet when the Portugal national team regular leaves amid strong interest from Barcelona and Manchester United.

His release clause being set at a wholly reasonable €60m [£52m] suggests that if anything that they’re ready to cash in.

Bradley Barcola (Paris Saint-Germain)

Gifted left wingers with high potential like Barcola are in a great spot ahead of the summer window with Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal all in the market for a fix for that flank, while Chelsea will presumably join them in bidding wars and battles whether they need to or not because they just can’t help themselves.

PSG have reportedly responded to a Liverpool enquiry for the £60m-rated star and/or Desire Doue with a flat “no”, but a swift exit from the competition at the hands of Chelsea could prompt manager Luis Enrique to consider his future at the club amid interest from Manchester United and lead to a player exodus from the Paris des Princes, with the lure of Old Trafford plus the opportunity to continue to work under Enrique acting as quite the draw for Barcola