Every transfer window is an invitation for soccer fans worldwide to become giddy at the mere mention of a new name linked with a move to their favorite club. But while every fan wakes up hoping for a new link to a player like it's Christmas morning, there’s a fine line between a good transfer and a bad one.
The way to know if your team is about to make a mistake in buying a player is if it goes against one of the unwritten rules about squad-building. One of them being buying a player despite a poor squad fit. An existing player’s performance may drop due to an incoming transfer’s arrival and subsequent shake up of the team tactically.
Another one is misplaced finances; buying a shiny new attacker may result in the team not being able to go all-out for a defender they may actually need more. And lastly, buying a certain player may mean a missed opportunity in an open market, the signing may close a team off to a better one, and also results in less competition for a rival team to sign the player. A lot of these may be realized with hindsight, but perhaps the right caution to exercise is avoiding the chance to make these mistakes at all.
Xavi Simons to Chelsea
Take Xavi Simons for example, a player who has attracted media attention since he was 15 years old at La Masia. Since then he’s moved from PSG to PSV to a permanent deal at RB Leipzig just last January. Without overly critiquing the player, he still hasn’t found his *specialty* yet.
Simons likes to be involved in possession and doesn't make a lot of high-risk plays, the opposite profile you’d expect from a young Bundesliga attacker. Despite his tendency to contribute to build-up play, there’s nothing fully refined about Simons that makes him a must-have player. The attraction with him is what a team could mold him into.
Despite being only 22, it’s not the type of profile you’d throw into a team with a lot of players in that position already. Which is why the links to Chelsea are more than just confusing, they’re potentially harmful. Having an abundance of attackers has proved to be a good thing for the Club World Cup champions, and they’ve managed to future-proof their squad with the likes of Estevao, Kendry Paez, and Geovany Quenda waiting in the wings.
But bringing in Xavi Simons would be a problem because despite being older, he arguably has to develop just as much as Estevao or Quenda, and unlike the two, hasn’t had a solid foundation to do so since his La Masia days. Even looking at teams across the Premier League like Arsenal or Newcastle, Simons’ lack of stability over the last few years has resulted in him still being a relatively raw talent.
A move to the Premier League will not only create more issues in trying to nurture a skillful yet puzzling player, but force him to adapt to another new country. Fans rightfully love when a young player develops into a superstar right before their eyes, but sometimes it's a hassle that teams just don’t need to sign up for, especially when nothing is guaranteed in situations like these.
Benjamin Sesko to Arsenal
While a potential Simons to Chelsea deal would be a problem for the Blues because it creates an unnecessary logjam of players in similar situations, Arsenal’s glaring striker issue is a case about signing the right player. It's hard to know when Arsenal are really *in* for a player or when they’re just blowing smoke. That trope goes back to the Wenger days of Gonzalo Higuain, Luis Suárez, and even back to Cristiano Ronaldo.
All signs lately have pointed to the signing of Viktor Gyokeres, but similar alarms went off surrounding a potential deal for Benjamin Sesko. The signing of Sesko would be a mistake because of a poor tactical fit (Arsenal need someone who can create their own shot because of their lack of creativity) and just as importantly, it means they miss out on Gyokeres.
Sesko is a generational type of athlete in the soccer world, 6-foot-5 and a good pressing threat to boot. But outside of his athleticism, there isn’t a ready-made goalscorer in Sesko, which is what Arsenal desperately needs. Only taking 2.54 shots per game and a really, really low 3.51 touches in the attacking penalty area, Sesko isn’t a lethal scorer when the ball is on the ground. His ball-striking ability is good which shows he does have the potential to be a killer #9, but Arsenal don’t have the patience to wait around and haven’t shown they can develop that goalscoring prowess with how Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus have panned out at the Emirates.
Gyokeres is ready and desperate to make the move, so opting for the project in Sesko would be a mis-identification of where Arsenal’s squad is at and what type of profile it needs.
Eberechi Eze to Tottenham
Lastly, while Tottenham have clearly shown their intent to capitalize on their first ever European trophy, signing Mohamed Kudus and approaching Morgan Gibbs-White in the span of a few days, any move for another Premier League star in Eberechi Eze would be overkill.
Even if the reported move for Gibbs-White does fall through as speculated, Eze is another profile that the Europa League Champions just don’t need. Not only is he very similar to Kudus as attacking midfielders always looking to score, but any major squad-building decisions in North London should be made with an eye on Mikey Moore.
The 17-year-old made his debut this season, but faced limited minutes after dealing with a heart problem. Now fully healthy, his pathway to the starting lineup looks clear as Heung-Min Son grows older. But if Eze were to be signed, a very ball-dominant attacker like Kudus and James Maddison, Moore may opt to capitalize on the interest shown by Borussia Dortmund, and take the route of Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham to try and develop abroad.
While Eze may be a fine player and could certainly add something to this Tottenham side, keeping their young starlet Moore’s development should be a priority. Unfortunately, signing another attacker like Eze would interfere with that.
Scoring his first goal in style 💫
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) January 31, 2025
Brilliant from 17-year-old Mikey Moore 👏 pic.twitter.com/GDJKRYggNs
None of these signings would be considered mistakes because they’re bad players, but for squad building or market opportunity reasons it may be best to avoid making them and either look elsewhere in the market, or inward at the resources already being used in developing players in-house.