Midfielders on the move: 5 midfielders who could move on a free transfer this summer

Every six months of the year or so, a transfer window within the footballing calendar opens. Be it in the summer or winter, every team has a number of weeks to bolster their ranks and improve the players that they have. Regardless of ambition, whether a team is aiming for a title, European football or simply to avoid relegation, the transfer windows offer ample times for teams to add bodies they deem necessary.

While the majority of deals within the top divisions of football only happen with a transfer fee, there are instances in which a team can secure a free agent, depending on the status of their target’s contract. The start of each year offers teams a chance to look into players that have just six months remaining on their current deal.

There are a number of brilliant players whose contracts are due to expire in the coming summer. So, according to Transfermarkt market values, who are the best five midfielders that could potentially move on a free transfer in 2025?

5. Sean Longstaff

Not including a brief loan with Kilmarnock and a season temporarily spent with Blackpool between 2017 and 2018, local lad Sean Longstaff has spent his entire career with Newcastle United, who he spent a decade playing for as a youth player prior to his senior debut.

Having made almost 200 appearances for the Magpies at the time of writing, Longstaff has steadily developed as a midfielder, transforming into a more than solid option for the Premier League side. Under the management of Eddie Howe, Longstaff was a key part of the Newcastle side that qualified for the Champions League in 2023.

Reports suggest that Longstaff’s contract, for which he signed an extension in 2022, is due to expire in the coming summer. Longstaff is evidently a well-liked player to manager Howe and it is hard to imagine that the midfielder moves on in the summer, but it is still a plausible scenario.

4. Angel Gomes

A player who spent over a decade with Manchester United as a youth player, Angel Gomes rose to the senior team in 2017, though in the three years he spent at Old Trafford, he only made a handful of appearances before departing the club on a permanent basis for Lille in 2020, where he remains today.

Gomes’ first season abroad was spent on loan with Boavista, which helped the diminutive midfielder develop his game massively. Since returning to Lille in 2021, he has become an indispensable part of his team’s midfield, capable of playing either as a central midfielder or slightly further back or forward, such is his versatility.

In 2024, while England were under the interim management of Lee Carsley, Gomes made his international debut alongside a number of others who, realistically, would not have been called up by Gareth Southgate, at least in the immediate future. With his contract reportedly set to expire in the summer, Gomes has understandably garnered numerous suitors who may poise themselves to sign him in a few months time.

3. Frank Anguissa

Frank Zambo Anguissa began his career in France with Marseille and after three years at the club from his 2015 debut, the central midfielder moved to the Premier League when he joined Fulham, though departed the club on loan after just one season in London after they were relegated from the top flight.

He returned to Craven Cottage the season after their promotion but once more, could not prevent the club from going down. He left on loan again, this time for Napoli, who he went on to join on a permanent basis. Since then, Anguissa has developed into a brilliant central midfielder that helped the club win the Serie A in 2023.

Anguissa’s contract with the Naples club is set to expire in the coming summer. Now 29 years old, the Cameroonian international is in the prime of his career and theoretically has numerous years left at the top level, which could lead to a club hoping to acquire his services in the summer.

2. Kevin de Bruyne

Kevin de Bruyne’s first stint in English football was with Chelsea, who he joined in 2012 after four years with Genk in his native Belgium. The midfielder spent just two years at Stamford Bridge and one of those seasons was on loan with Werder Bremen. In 2014, de Bruyne returned to Germany when he joined Wolfsburg permanently.

In the Bundesliga, de Bruyne made a name for himself as a player, displaying the passing range and general brilliance that he would come to show consistently when he returned to the Premier League in 2015 to join Manchester City, who he has been with for almost a decade.

Since moving to the Etihad, de Bruyne’s showcases of ability have seen him establish himself as one of the greatest midfielders of his generation. The Belgian international has won six Premier League titles and a Champions League, the latter as part of a European treble, as well as countless domestic cups.

Whether de Bruyne renews his contract before the summer remains to be seen, but should he not, then elite clubs will certainly be circling.

1. Joshua Kimmich

After spending time with Stuttgart as a youth player, Joshua Kimmich moved to RB Leipzig in 2013, the same year he made his senior debut for the club. After two seasons with them, Kimmich secured a move to Bayern Munich in 2015 where, at the time of writing, he remains, having been in Bavaria for almost a decade now.

Kimmich has received understandable comparisons to former Bayern Munich player Philipp Lahm, given he is comfortable playing in either midfield or as a right-back. The German international, who has nearly 100 caps for his country, has helped Bayern maintain their dominance over the Bundesliga.

Comfortable on both the offensive and defensive side of the game, it is no surprise that many clubs are intrigued by the fact that, if reports are correct, Kimmich’s contract expires in 2025. There have been numerous potential suitors touted by the media and whoever Kimmich ends up playing for will have a player that can compete at the highest level for some time yet.