The Most Expensive Football Transfers Ever

So! Actually the most expensive football transfers translates to the most expensive football players in the world, doesn’t it? Who are they, by the way? and for what transfer fees have they moved? Here, we are going to let you know about these top expensive players. Stay with us!

Neymar

For a record transfer fee of €222 million in August 2017, the Brazilian international, Neymar da Silva Santos Junior, simply known as Neymar, moved from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain, becoming the most expensive player ever in the history of football up until now.

Prior to that, Neymar had moved from the Brazilian club, Santos, to Barcelona for a transfer fee of €86.2 million of which €40 million had been received by the professional footballer’s parents. One interesting fact about Neymar’s transfer fee is that no other footballer before him had moved for over €105 million, let alone twice that amount! The highest transfer fee before Neymar was €105 million paid by Manchester United to Juventus for Pual Pogba’s move to the club.

Kylian Mbappe

For a transfer fee of €135 million - €87 million less than Neymar, Monaco’s 19-year-old defender, Kylian Mbappe, moved from Monaco to PSG in July 2018, and by doing so he also made a record: the most expensive teenage footballer and the most expensive transfer ever within a domestic league at the time (2018).

Prior to his switch to Paris Saint-Germain, Mbappe was signed as a loanee by the Ligue 1 side. Rumor had it at the time that a transfer fee of €145 million was required from PSG for the teenage full transfer.

Joao Felix

The highest amount Benfica had ever received as transfer fee and also the highest amount Atletico had ever paid for a signee, €126 million is the third record high transfer fee ever in the history of football set for the 19-year-old forward, Joao Felix.

Felix moved from Benfica to Atletico Madrid for the above-mentioned amount. One interesting fact about Felix’s transfer is that the destination club, Atletico, paid only €30 million in cash for his transfer and the rest €96 million was paid via installments, thus going beyond Felix’s release clause of €120 million.

Antoine Griezmann

12 July 2019, Barcelona confirmed the purchase of Antoine Griezmann through paying his release clause: €120 million. The player moved from Atletico Madrid to Barcelona, although later his former club claimed that the release clause had been €200 million. Atletico submitted a complaint to LaLiga but the professional league’s president, Javier Tebas, later stated that it was possible to block the transfer but LaLiga had to decide about the matter.

However, that didn’t lead to anything, with the player making his debut in a friendly match against Chelsea in Japan. Before moving to Barcelona, Antoine Griezmann had switched from Real Sociedad to Atletico Madrid for a transfer fee of €30 million.

Philippe Coutinho

For a transfer fee of €120 million, the Brazilian forward, Philippe Coutinho, moved from Barcelona to the Bundesliga giant, Bayern Munich on August 19, 2019. The player, before being bought, had moved to the Bayern on a loan contract, with the club accepting to pay his full salary.

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“We've been working on bringing in Philippe Coutinho for quite some time and we're very happy that we’ve been able to complete this transfer. Our thanks go to FC Barcelona for agreeing to the transfer. With his creativity and outstanding skills, Philippe is a player who will immediately strengthen our attack,” said Bayern’s CEO, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge about Coutinho’s transfer.

Ousmane Dembélé

Ousmane Dembélé moved from Borussia Dortmund to Barcelona on August 25, 2017, for a transfer fee of €105 million. Dembélé made his debut for the LaLiga giants in September that year in a home win against Espanyol. He had made his previous move from Rennes to Borussia Dortmund for an undisclosed transfer fee.

Dembélé’s performance at Borussia Dortmund was quite good with 8 goals he scored and 18 assists that he provided. Maybe that was what actually attracted Barca’s attention. The LaLiga giants were actually looking for a replacement for Neymar who had moved recently for a world record transfer fee of €222 million to Paris Saint-Germain.

Paul Pogba

Pogba’s return to his former club, Manchester United, (from Juventus) actually costed the club €105 million which was the highest transfer fee at its own time (2016), making the French midfielder the most expensive footballer in the world at that time. Pogba had previously moved from Manchester United to Juventus on free transfer.

Manchester United’s manager at that time (2012) confirmed that Pogba had not signed a new contract with the club. Apparently disappointed, the former Man Utd manager said: “I don't think he showed us any respect at all, to be honest. I'm quite happy that if they [footballers] carry on that way, they're probably better doing it away from us."

Eden Hazard

From Chelsea to Real Madrid; Eden Hazard’s move to the LaLiga giants actually costed them €100 million. Hazard signed a five-year contract with Real Madrid for the above-mentioned transfer fee which may increase to €146 million due to additional fees. The Belgium international had moved previously from the Ligue 1 side, Lille, to Chelsea for a transfer fee of around €36 million in June 2012.

Also Hazard’s €100-million move to Real Madrid made him Real’s most expensive player after Gareth Bale who moved to the club for a transfer fee of €101 million in 2013. Should Hazard’s transfer fee increase to €146 million, he will become the Real’s most expensive player ever.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Although Cristiano Ronaldo is not the most expensive player in the world, his move to Juventus for a transfer fee of €100 million, made him the most expensive over-30 footballer in the world plus that the transfer amount itself was the highest ever paid by an Italian club.

Also Ronaldo’s move from Manchester United to Real Madrid in 2009-10 season for a transfer fee of €94 million was a world record at its own time. He actually signed a five-year contract with Real Madrid with a €1 billion release clause. Yet another record: At least 80,000 supporters attended Ronaldo’s presentation at Real’s stadium, Santiago Bernabéu; this actually broke the 25-year record of Diego Maradona whose presentation at Napoli was attended by 75,000 fans.

Football clubs with most fans in the world

Which clubs are the most supported football clubs in the world? Maybe football clubs with most trophies in the world? Not necessarily. However, you may have probably guessed that the world’s most supported clubs should be European. A good bet, but let’s take a closer look at them.

Real Madrid

Real Madrid comes at the top of the list of football clubs with highest fans in the world. Success naturally attracts attention and creates affection! And that’s really the case with Real Madrid. They have won 9 Champion Leagues and 32 LaLiga titles so far which actually has turned them to the most successful club in Europe. Real have a tendency to buy superstars and that’s why they are called Galacticos which means “galactic” in Spanish, but in particular, refers to footballers at superstar levels.

Great players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, David Beckham, Kaka, Makelele, Xabi Alonso, and Steve McManaman have all played for the LaLiga giant some time during their careers. Ok! Enough of the success, let’s get to numbers! Although the number of Real Madrid fans is declared by some sports sites to be around 250 million, Real Madrid’s director of institutional relations, Emilio Butragueno, says the real number of Real fans is something around 450 million scattered across 186 of 193 countries in the world.

The LaLiga giant has 87 million followers on Instagram, 34 million on Twitter, and 109 million on Facebook, and all these numbers are growing. Just take a look at other websites reports and you’ll see it for yourself. And did you know that some biggest celebrities around the world are among Real fans? Tom Cruise, Antonio Banderas, King Abdullah II, Jennifer Lopez, Robbie Williams, Penelope Cruz, and Russel Crowe are all supporters of the Los Blancos. The club is also among the top 10 football clubs with most trophies in the world with 90 trophies so far.

FC Barcelona

The second on the list of most popular football clubs in the world, Barcelona is said to have around 220 million supporters across the globe and is also the richest football club in the world with an annual revenue of more than €800 million. Maybe these days the name, Barcelona, is mostly associated with the name, Lionel Messi. Some believe the club has gained lots of supporters since the Argentinian superstar has shined for them, however, one cannot say the club’s own achievements have not played a part in its popularity if one knows that they have won 26 LaLiga titles and 30 Copa del Rey until now.

Barcelona have around 85 million followers on Instagram, more than 100 million on Facebook, and 32.5 million on Twitter. Legends such as Diego Maradona, Romario, Thierry Henry, Johan Cryuff, and Frank Rijkaard, and great players like Lionel Messi, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Pep Guardiola, and Neymar have all played some time at the club during their careers. Barcelona FC is among few football clubs in the world to be truly run by its fans – actually its 14,000 social members who make the decisions for the club.

Barcelona also own the largest stadium in Europe capable of holding around 100,000 fans which is actually 10,000 more than Wembley Stadium. Maybe one reason behind having a huge fan base is that more fans can attend the matches compared to other clubs. Barcelona fans are sometimes referred to as “culés” which means “ass” in Catalan language. The story behind this calling dates back to 1920s when Barcelona played in their former stadium, Les Corts, that couldn’t hold so many fans. As a result, some of the fans had to sit on the highest row of the stadium with their bottoms partly sticking out of the edge. Those who passed by underneath could see those partly-stuck-out butts, and therefore called Barca fans “ass”!

Manchester United

Although once in 2013 it was announced that Manchester United had 659 million fans that had grown from 333 million in five years, many football pundits doubted the numbers and said they were unrealistic, though it was based upon a survey carried out by Kantar. The number should be something around 127 million, they said. However, whatever the number is, Man Utd have always valued their fans. If you happen to stumble upon the fan page on their official website, you would surely be stricken by that big “The Best Fans in the World”.

Around 400 celebrities and famous people support Manchester United among them are Brad Pitt (actor), Andy Goldstein (TV and radio presenter), Darren Campbell (athlete), Jamie Delgado (tennis player), Jamie Moore (boxer), Kim Jong-un (North Korea leader), Lex Luger (WWE wrestler), Shahrukh Khan (Indian actor), Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani (Emir of Qatar), The Game (rapper), and Victoria Beckham (singer and the wife of David Beckham). Maybe now we know why Manchester United value their fans so much!

Manchester United have around 35 million followers on Instagram, around 22 million on Twitter, and more than 72 million on Facebook. Looks like they are most popluar on Facebook. One interesting fact concerning Man Utd and their fans is that once the club announced that they were hirign a die-hard fan to run their social media for a £100,000 salary. Also there are more than 200 branches of Manchester United Supporters Club around the world, namely in more than 23 countries. The Red Devils have also a customer base of 11 million which includes all fans who have completed at least one financial transaction with the club.

Chelsea

One of the soccer teams with most fans in the world, Chelsea is said to have around 145 million fans around the world, but again this number comes from no reliable source. Another source says that Chelsea have around 82 million fans in total. The English club known also as “The Blues” have around 22 million followers on Instagram, 14.3 million followers on Twitter, and near 48 million followers on Facebook. They say most of Chelsea fans are plastic fans - fake fans whose support for a team is not determined by geography or family ties but by merely the glories and the success a team has achieved. They are also called glory hunters; if they see another team is more successful, they go support that team.

Chelsea fans, plastic fans! They say that because Chelsea fan base hugely grew overnight when the club’s president, Roman Abramovich, pumped his billions into the club in 2003. However, that doesn’t mean all Chelsea fans follow that rule plus that some celebrities and famous people are also the supporters of Chelsea; people like Bill Clinton (former US President), Gordon Ramsay (TV chef), Kevin Garnett (NBA player), Charlize Theron (Hollywood actress), Will Ferrel (Hollywood actor), Bryan Adams (singer), and Lord Richard Attenborough (film director) who seem to love the team for just what they are.

Juventus

If not the most supported football club in the world, Juventus are for sure the most supported club in Italy according to the Italian research agency, Demos & Pi, with 34% of all Italian football fans being in their fan base. Although this figure belongs to 2016 but still it’s an outstanding one plus that the number of Juventus fans has probably grown since 2016, meaning that the figure could be even bigger now. The total number of Juventus fans is said to be 300 million with 41 million in Europe and 12 million in Italy alone.

However, according to some other sources, the number of Juventus fans is 180 million all around the world, while still some other sources claim that it’s just more than 80 million. Whatever the number should be, one thing is for sure, and that is Juventus is one of the most supported football clubs in the world. It seems that they are also among the clubs with most nicknames too, if they are not the club with the most number of nicknames in the world! They have actually 7 nicknames some of them are La Vecchia Signora (The Old Lady), La Fidanzata d'Italia (The Girlfriend of Italy), and Le Zebre (The Zebras).

Bayern Munich

In terms of fan membership, Bayern Munich is the most supported football club in Germany with more than 293,000 members according to a recent survey carried out by statista.com. Some even claim that Bayern is the most supported football club in the world concerning the number of its fan members. True or not, they have people like Pope Benedict XVI among their members! Considering that they have won 69% of all domestic titles (both league titles and cups) in the current decade, there is no wonder they have attracted this number of members, and as they themselves say: The biggest football family in the world.

Unfortunately, there is not much information available concerning the total number of Bayern fans. One can just guess that by the number of followers they have on social media, though that’s not a precise measure. The Bavarians have more than 21 million followers on Instagram, around 5 million on Twitter, and near 50 million on Facebook. According to a survey carried out by the club in North America in 2017, the Bundesliga giant has fans in all 50 states of US with 43% of their fans being under 25 and one fifth of them being female.

Bayern is mostly known for its members than its fans: Other than their 293,000 official fan members, there are more than 4,400 Bayern fan clubs in the world with over 350,000 members in total. Celebrities and famous people like Pope Benedict XVI (religious leader), Nico Rosberg (Formula One driver), Steffi Graf (number one women tennis player), and Wladimir Klitchshko (legendary boxer) are among Bayern fans and legends like Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Muller, and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge have played some time during their careers for the Bavarians.

Paris Saint-Germain

Not the most supported football club in the world but the most popular one in France with 22% of all the nation’s football fans being their supporters, Paris Saint-Germain have a fan base of 35 million, although some other sources claim that it’s almost twice this number: something around 70 million. Paris Saint-Germain, in their first three years of formation, were a fan-owned club and had around 15,000 members who paid an annual fee of 25 to 40 francs (4 to 6 euros) to hold up the club.

Unfortunately, PSG fans have a long history of hooliganism behind them with even one murder case in 2010 where a PSG fan called Yann Lorence was killed in a clash between PSG and Marseille fans. They have also committed acts of racism like in 2006-07 UEFA Cup that they lost 4-2 to the Israeli club, Hapoel Tel Aviv, they started to attack Jewish fans in the streets and make them subjects of racial abuse. And when a plain-clothes police officer interfered, it ended in killing a PSG fan named Julien Quemener by the same officer.

Enough of hooliganism! Let’s see how many followers PSG have on social medial. They have 29 million followers on Instagaram, 7.7 million on Twitter, and more than 40 million on Facebook. Famous people like the former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, former NBA player, Tony Parker, and the former top Belarusian tennis player, Victoria Azarenka, are all PSG fans, not to mention that celebrities like US rapper, Tyga, Rihanna, Naomi Campbell, and Kim Kardashian have all been seen in Le Parc des Princes among PSG fans.

The best forwards in 2019

Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbapp; these are some of the names on many of us list of Best forwards and we are all familiar with the happiness and excitement they bring for us the minute they score a goal.

Football world has always been the most mesmerizing one for many and it will never get boring as there are always new brilliant talents and stars shining in this world.

2019 was a year for many of these stars to prove they deserve being in some of the most famous clubs all over the world and in this matter we decided to go through all that happened in soccer world during the year and make a list of the best forwards in 2019.

However, it has to be mentioned that there still many other great forwards in mesmerizing world of football that we cannot even count them all and our list contains just a group of them who have had brilliant performance during 2019 and had made it even more interesting. Time to take a look at the list:

The best football strikers in 2019

Time to know the best soccer forwards in 2019. Are you ready? Let’s keep on then.

Lionel Messi

• 2018/19: 51 goals and 22 assists in 50 games

• 2019/20: 15 goals and 9 assists in 18 games

Who is the best forward of all time? Messi for sure and that makes him the best forward in 2019 as well. The 34-year-old captain seems unstoppable as he continued his unbelievable records in 2019. During 2018/19 season he scored 51 goals in 50 games, while in 2019/20, he has netted 15 goals in 18 matches. That’s why he is the first player chosen to be on our list.

Just 13 days after the beginning of 2019, Messi scored his 400th La Liga goal in his 435th league appearance in a 3-0 home win over Eibar, becoming the first player ever to manage this tally in just one of Europe's top five leagues.

He was chosen as the Best FIFA Men’s player of the year for the 6th time, & The Ballon D’or winner for the 6th time in 2019 and he also scored three hat-tricks during this year.

Robert Lewandowski

• 2018/19: 40 goals and 13 assists in 47 games

• 2019/20: 30 goals and 2 assists in 25 games

The Bayern Munich striker performed brilliantly in 2019, scoring lots of goals for the Bundesliga team and earning his position on the list of best forwards in 2019-2020.

The year started for Lewandowski with joy and continued the same. On 9 February 2019, the 31-year-old scored in the team’s 3-1 win over Schalke and became the club's third-highest goalscorer of all-time, besides Roland Wohlfarth. Just one month later he surpassed Wohlfarth after scoring a brace in a 5-1 win over Gladbach. He continued his full of honor year and on 26 November 2019, the Polish player scored 4 goals in under 15 minutes in their match against Red Star Belgrade which ended in a 6-0 result. These goals set a new record for the fastest time to score four goals in a Champions League match.

Kylian Mbappé

• 2018/19: 39 goals and 17 assists in 43 games
• 2019/20: 18 goals and 9 assists in 19 games

The 21-year-old is currently one of the best strikers in the world and his performance has been brilliant in 2019.

He started 2019 with a hat-trick on 19th January in PSG’s 9-0 win over Guingamp. It is interesting to know that he was one of the two players to do so as the other one was Cavani.

Thanks to Mbappe PSG became Ligue 1 champions in 2018/19 and the young forward won the Player of the Year award, while he also became the season’s top goalscorer with 33 goals.

2019/20 wasn’t much different as Kylian continued bringing honor to PSG. On 22 October, he came off the bench and scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 win over Belgian side Club Brugge in the Champions League and at the age of 20 years and 306 days, became the youngest player ever to score at least 15 goals in the competition.

Raheem Sterling

• 2018/19: 25 goals and 18 assists in 51 games

• 2019/20: 20 goals and 6 assists in 28 games

There is no doubt that Sterling was one of the world’s best forwards in 2019 and will continue being the same.

2019 was the year of goals and Hat-tricks for the 25-year-old as on 6 January, he scored a goal and assisted one in a 7-0 win against Rotherham, which booked their place in the fourth round. His brilliant performance kept on the same till 20 February 2019, in a first leg match of the Champions League against Schalke, where he scored the winning goal in the 90th minute in a 3-2 win. It was also Sterling who netted the penalty goal for City to win the Carabao Cup. In March in their match over Watford, he scored a hat-trick for the first time since 2015 within the space of 13 minutes which became the fastest hat-trick of the season.

With this performance, there is no surprise that he was named to the PFA Premier League Team of the Year and won the PFA Young Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year. He started the 2019/20 season the same way as he scored the opening goal of FA Community Shield against Liverpool. However, after the 1-1 result of the match, the penalty kicks were started, where in the end Manchester City won the title 5–4.

Sterling scored his second hat-trick in the season and his third of the calendar year in the Citizen’s 5-0 win over West Ham.

Later on 22 October, Sterling scored his first UEFA Champions League hat-trick in their 5-1 win over Atalanta.

Cristiano Ronaldo

• 2018/19: 28 goals and 10 assists in 43 games

• 2019/20: 12 goals and 2 assists in 21 games

2019 may not have been the best for CR7; however, Ronaldo is still one of the bests on the list of best strikers in 2019 and 2020 with no doubt.

The 34-year-old all-time player started playing for Juventus back in the beginning of 2018 & he won his first trophy with the club in January 2019 as the team won the 2018 Supercoppa Italiana, after Ronaldo’s goal against A.C. Milan.

He continued his brilliant performance for the club and then in April and after Juventus won their eighth successive Serie A title, Ronaldo became the first player to win league titles in England, Spain and Italy.

Later on 23 September, he won the bronze award for the 2019 Best FIFA Men's Player Award.

Interestingly on 1 October and after Juventus's 3–0 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the UCL, CR7 reached several milestones. First, his goal during the match saw him score for the 14th consecutive Champions League season, equalling Raúl and Messi's record and second he broke Iker Casillas’ record for most Champions League wins of all time, and equalled Raúl's record of scoring against 33 different Champions League opponents. Lovely! Huh?

Another record he achieved this year goes back to 18 December, when Ronaldo leaped to a height of 2.56m before heading the winning goal in a 2-1 Juventus win against Sampdoria in the league.

Sadio Mane

• 2018/19: 26 goals and 5 assists in 50 games

• 2019/20: 14 goals and 11 assists in 27 games

Mane is our next choice on the list of the best strikers in 2019. On 13 March 2019, the 27-year-old became the club's record goalscorer away from home in the competition with seven goals to his name.

Later in April, he became one of the six players being nominated for the PFA Players' Player of the Year award while Virgil van Dijk’s name was also on the list. That was not all for that month as he was also one of the nominees for the PFA Team of the Year alongside his Liverpool teammates, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andrew Robertson and Van Dijk.

Later in May, in Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers Mane scored twice which changed his record to 22 goals for the campaign & saw him share the Premier League Golden Boot award with Salah and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Another record for Mane goes back to his 100th Premier League appearance on 5 October, where the young forward player scored his 50th league goal for the Reds in their 2–1 win over Leicester City.

His perfect performance paid off and on 21 October, Mané was named in the 30-man shortlist for the 2019 Ballon d'Or and though he did not win the award, he finished in fourth place, behind Messi, Van Dijk and Ronaldo.

Karim Benzema

• 2018/19: 30 goals and 11 assists in 53 games

• 2019/20: 16 goals and 7 assists in 23 games

Real Madrid Karim Benzema is the next earning to be on the list of the best forwards in 2019.

It has been more than a decade since the France striker has joined Real Madrid and his performance has been brilliant during this time and especially since Ronaldo has left the club in 2018.

On 13 February, in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League knockout phase, the 32-year-old scored the first goal of their match against Ajax where they won 2-1. In doing so, he reached 60 Champions League goals, becoming only the fourth player to reach this milestone. Later in November, he scored twice in their clash against Galatasaray, where they thrashed them 6-0. Benzema achieved two new milestones in that match: First, he became the second player after Lionel Messi to score in 15 consecutive Champions League seasons and second he became the third Real Madrid player to score 50 goals in the competition.

Just three days later and on 9 November, Benzema scored a first-half brace in their 4-0 win over Eibar, and so he overtook Ferenc Puskás as the club's sixth all-time goalscorer in La Liga with 157 goals from 323 appearances.

Jamie Vardy

• 2018/19: 18 goals and 4 assists in 36 games

• 2019/20: 17 goals and 4 assists in 21 games

Vardy is the next player we want to mention on our list of the top football forwards in 2019. He started his career as a footballer when he was 19 and kept on shining all through these years.

In the 3rd month of 2019, Vardy scored his 100th goal for Leicester, as he scored two goals in their 3-1 win over Fulham.

He continued the rest of the year well performed and on 25 October 2019, the 32-year-old scored a hat-trick in a 9-0 away win against Southampton.

Carlos Vela

• 2018/19: 38 goals and 12 assists in 36 games

• 2019/20: 15 goals and 9 assists in 18 games

The 30-year-old is a very strange footballer as he himself prefers watching a basketball match rather than a football one, but still he is one of the best forwards in 2019-2020! However, no matter what, he has had a brilliant style and performance since he has started playing in the age of 12.

2019 was a year of success to the striker as it started with the rumors of him joining Barcelona on loan. However, Vela eventually revealed that it was really close, but the huge change did not happen.

On 30 March, the Los Angeles striker scored his first hat-trick with his team in their 5-0 win over San Jose Earthquakes. He also scored both goals in their match against LA Galaxy on 19 July; however, they finished the match with a 2-3 loss against their city rivals. It is interesting to know no matter what the result was, Vardy achieved two milestones in that match as his first goal was his 20th league goal of the season and he also became the fastest player in MLS history to reach that milestone. From July to November vela rode the horse of breaking records and scoring goals and eventually he finished the year by claiming the MLS Most Valuable Player Award for his performances.

Bafétimbi Gomis

• 2018/19: 35 goals and 6 assists in 48 games

• 2019/20: 11 goals and 4 assists in 14 games

Though the 34-year-old has a medical condition and is suspected to be reflex syncope, he has been one of the best forwards in 2019.

The star who joined Al-Hilal in August 2018 scored 11 goals in the 2019 AFC Champions League & finished the tournament as the top scorer. I'm addition, he helped the team to win the competition for the first time in 19 years.

Later, in the second leg of the competition’s Final on 24 November, the newly joined player scored the second goal in the team’s 2-0 win over Urawa Red Diamonds. The victory allowed the team to qualify for the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup.

He performed brilliantly in all the FIFA Club matches of his team and helped Al-Hilal to go all through the way to the semi-finals.

On 17 December, Gomis and the rest of the team went against Flamengo in the competition semi-finals and that’s where our chosen star scored the only goal of the match for his team. However, eventually, they were beaten 3-1 against their rivals.

Later on 21 December, He played in the second half of the third position game against Monterrey and scored a goal in the 64th minute of the match. The game finished with a 2-2 result and unfortunately, for Al-Hilal and Gomis, in the end, they lost the match with a 4-3 result on penalty shoot-outs.

Mbappe can emulate Ronaldo at Real Madrid and Haaland a 'good option' to replace Benzema

Former Real Madrid assistant coach Jose Morais believes Los Blancos would do well to sign Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland.

Kylian Mbappe could emulate Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid, while Erling Haaland would be a great replacement for Karim Benzema, according to the club's former assistant coach Jose Morais.

Morais spent three years at the Santiago Bernabeu working under Jose Mourinho, during which time Ronaldo helped Madrid overthrow Pep Guardiola's Barcelona and claim the 2011-12 LaLiga title.

The five-time Ballon d'Or winner left for Juventus in a €112million deal in 2018 and his absence continues to be felt by Madrid.

Benzema has been more prolific since Ronaldo's exit – he has 49 goals since the start of last season – but Morais believes Paris Saint-Germain star Mbappe and Borussia Dortmund striker Haaland have the quality to make the grade in Madrid.

Morais, now the head coach of Jeonbuk Motors, told Stats Perform: "I think Mbappe is definitely one of the players that can be a target for Real Madrid because he is still young and his quality, talent and strength is capable to project him into one of the best players in the world.

"This is the perspective Madrid wants and this is what you need as a player in order to attract the interest of Madrid. I definitely agree that Mbappe is a player that in the future could play for Real Madrid.

"I'm not there now and I have no idea if it will be a reality, but Madrid is definitely a club that every good player in the world would like to play for. I believe Mbappe would be pleased to go to Madrid."

He continued: "I think [Haaland] is a great player. He's also one of the young players with very great quality. His finishing qualities are unbelievable.

"Doing what he did in this short period for Dortmund and creating the impact that he created. I think that it is never too soon for a quality player to go to a club like Real Madrid.

"The higher the quality of player, the more the possibilities to succeed exist in a club like Real Madrid. You have a lot of competition in the club because you only have good players there, high-level players.

"Benzema is a fantastic player, a goalscorer, he has the quality that he has playing for Madrid all these years. I think Haaland is definitely a good option to replace a striker like him.

"Probably in the style of Cristiano, Mbappe would also be a player that could have some similarities in the strength and speed, and capacity of playing."

World Cup winner Mbappe has scored 90 goals in 120 games for PSG, winning the Ligue 1 title in each of his three campaigns in Paris.

Haaland only joined Dortmund from Salzburg in January but scored 12 goals in his 11 appearances in all competitions for the club before the season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Frank Lampard Reveals He Is Looking 'Very Carefully' at Temporary Contract Extensions

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has revealed that he is monitoring the situation regarding short-term contracts for players whose deals are set to expire at the end of June, admitting that he'd 'love' for his squad to remain the same until the season is completed.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, play has, of course, been halted and while some leagues in Europe have decided to cancel their current campaigns, the likes of Germany and England are pushing ahead to try to complete the season.

However, in this case, football will be forced to continue into summer - and one major problem that has arisen is how to handle the expiration of players' contracts.

Premier League clubs recently voted unanimously in favour of allowing temporary contract extensions for the 2019/20 season. This would be for players who would otherwise be out of contract at the end of June. However, the agreement must be mutual.

With regards to Chelsea, high-profile players, such as Willian, Pedro and Olivier Giroud, are yet to agree new deals and could walk away from Stamford Bridge for free this summer. Speaking on the issue, Blues boss Lampard has admitted that his intention is for the squad to remain the same until the season is complete and, as a result, he is 'very carefully' monitoring the situation regarding short-term contracts.

He told Chelsea's official website: "We have big players in that position so that’s obviously something I’m looking at very carefully. The ones out of contract here have been great servants for the club and actually have a lot of feeling for the club, but of course they will be concerned about themselves in terms of how they are now, and if pre-season is rushed they’ll want to make sure they’re alright.

"So it’s going to have to be something we look at. Hopefully we can have that arrangement so they can stay with us because if we play again I would love the squad to look as it’s looked all season, but we’ll have to see how that works."

Elsewhere, with clubs returning to small-group training on Tuesday, Lampard insisted that health and safety is the 'main' priority. The 41-year-old added that it is imperative to appreciate the players' feelings and how they are progressing with training.

"The important part of my job at the moment is showing empathy towards them," Lampard continued. "You can’t just tell them we’re going in this direction because this is something that’s affected everyone and their families.

"Football has been put in its place. Everyone wants to get back playing, we all miss it, but we need to know the players are comfortable.

"The players have been out for nine or ten weeks, the first two weeks we were in self-isolation and they couldn’t leave their houses, that’s not normal for a footballer, so we have to make sure we get that right."

Opinion: Football's return short on feeling

The Bundesliga looked to show the world what live sport could be like during the coronavirus pandemic. While it had its moments, this new football just didn't feel right, writes DW's Jonathan Harding.

There was no hiding how strange football's return was.

Stadiums were empty, substitutes physically-distanced and in masks, players’ shouts were audible and the sound of the referee’s whistle was almost deafening. A smattering of applause from the bench accompanied goals and goal music echoed around stadiums like a soundcheck before a concert.

Outside, streets were quiet. The opening whistle to the Ruhr derby, Germany's loudest fixture, was heard across the street. Felix Uduokhai's goal for Augsburg being ruled out by VAR was met by the quiet applause of one or two from the Wolfsburg bench. It was football, just not as we knew it.

Should Germany continue to manage the coronavirus pandemic and the DFL's hygiene protocols continue to be effectively put into place, this is what football will look like for a while, though. This strange, echoey, solo-celebrating, mask-wearing, stadium-empty football will never become normal, but certainly more familiar.

And so will Bundesliga football, certainly for as long as it headlines Saturday afternoons on its own.

Bundesliga in the spotlight

Erling Haaland has long been famous for scoring, and in doing so again against Schalke the young Norwegian did perhaps little more than prove that if there is one thing he can't do then it is celebrate on his own (although he deserves credit for following the rules).

But perhaps more have seen the talent of Julian Brandt, the wonder of Christian Streich and Freiburg, and the pluckiness of Paderborn. More might have seen a league keen on developing players, proud of its stars, and one not in need of being anything other than what it is.

More people being exposed to the skill of those players and the league in general is a good thing.

Absence of feeling

But it didn't feel right.

After months away, seeing Dortmund's tour de force attack, last-minute winners being ruled out for controversial VAR decisions and powerful headed goals were all comforting reminder of football's familiarities, but it all felt somewhat inconsequential.

A sterile approach might be the order of the day at the moment, but applying it to sport isolates the emotions and feelings tied to the highs and lows of competition. Fans in stadiums don't just create atmosphere, they create consequence.

When Yussuf Poulsen equalized for RB Leipzig, the sound of James Brown echoed around the stadium. It was less a question of whether I felt good but rather whether I felt anything at all.

Football will always find a way, and this new way is historic. In the months ahead it will also become familiar, but it will never feel right.