Much like there’s a new Premier League this season, the Champions League is starting back up, and there are new teams that could possibly win it this year. In this section of the article, I will be discussing some potential candidates that could lift the prized trophy. For the past three years, Real Madrid C.F. has won the tournament. However, this season their Champions League Talisman, Cristiano Ronaldo has left the club and transferred over to Italian giants, Juventus.

Real Madrid did not start their La Liga Campaign well. They have typically been dominant, and always being around the top three around this time of the year. Currently, they are sitting in fifth place, due to the fact that they have recently picked up their form. In the beginning, they were sitting in seventh position and even eighth place. On the contrary, they won 4 of 5 games and losing the other one. They still have one game left to play in the group stage, but it is confirmed that they will be making it to the round of 16.

Even if they are guaranteed a spot in the round, I am not sure how likely they are to get to even the semi-finals. They would need a very lucky draw after they get through the quarterfinals and they would also need certain teams to win. If they get drawn up against the likes of Manchester City, Juventus, Barcelona, or other big teams, I have a feeling they will not be able to rise up to the occasion and make it to the final this season.

Real Madrid’s La Liga rival’s, F.C. Barcelona, for me is one of the two teams that will make the final. They have already topped their group stage group, and haven’t lost a game yet in the Champions League. In La Liga, they have played 14 matches, won 8, drawn 4, and only lost 2. And, unlike Real Madrid, Barcelona are at the top of the league. They too are displaying some stunning and amazing form in both the Spanish league and the Champions League. For these reasons, I believe they will be at least able to reach the final.

There are two English teams that I think will be able to go very far in the tournament this year. They are, obviously, Manchester City and Liverpool F.C. These two teams are currently leading the Premier League with 41 and 42 points, respectively. Manchester City has lost only one game this season, and Liverpool is currently undefeated. Liverpool is ahead by only one point, which means that they’ve drawn one more game than City. Now, back to the Champions League. I feel like Liverpool will be able to make it far in this year’s tournament because last year, they made it all the way to the final but lost. They were able to top their group and conquer may great teams. They won 5-0 against Porto (on aggregate), they were able to defeat Manchester City 3-0 at home and 2-1 away in the quarterfinals. In the semi-finals, they faced AS Roma. They got lucky in these two legs. In the first leg, they won 5-2 at home. However, when they played away at Rome, they lost 4-2. I say Liverpool got lucky because there were many handballs and fouls that went their way, meaning that they should have conceded a penalty, but they did not. If they had conceded the penalty, it most likely would have been 5-2 and Roma would have been favored to go through. However, this was not the case, and they were able to make it to the final to play against Real Madrid but lost 3-1, but in reality, the scoreline should have been 1-1 due to two grave goalkeeping errors. For these reasons, I believe that they will be able to replicate their form from last year and make it to the semis.

Manchester City, are looking much better than they were last year. They have been more dominant over teams and are playing some beautiful football. Last year they managed to top their group, but not without suffering a couple of losses. This year, they have only lost once, drawn once, and won the rest of their games. This means that they are through and do not have to try in the final group stage game because they have already finished in first of their group. Last year, in the round of 16, they had to play FC Basel, which they easily won 5-2 on aggregate. Sadly, they came crashing out after suffering a 5-1 aggregate loss to Liverpool. But I think that they will make at least the quarterfinals, if not the semis because it has taken them 5 months of Premier League games to lose just once.

Earlier, I talked about how Real Madrid lost their CL talisman, Cristiano Ronaldo, to Juventus. This is the main reason I think Juventus will be able to make the final this year. Ronaldo has helped Juventus to their best ever Serie A campaign start with 14 wins and only 1 draw out of 15 games!!! That’s insane. Check this out, Juventus has scored 34 goals and only conceded 8 in games. Seems to me like Ronaldo is really helping them out. He has scored 10 goals and managed to get 6 assists in all 15 games he’s played in the Serie A.

Since I am on the topic of Ronaldo, who is possibly one of the greatest transfers all time, and January is just around the corner, why not talk about some transfer deals that I would like to see or what I think is possible. Sadly, these are just what I would like to see and what I think might happen, and not actual rumors because the transfer window is still far away. First of all, for those of you who don’t know, a transfer window is a period of time in which clubs from all around the world are able to buy, sell, and trade players. The first is the summer transfer window, and it runs about from the beginning of July to the end of August. This is where Ronaldo transferred from Real Madrid to Juve for a fee of 117 million Euros. The other window is the winter transfer window. It runs from the beginning to the end of January. There are typically fewer signings and deals because teams have started to gel well together and no one wants to mess up the team chemistry. This window is usually used for strengthening up certain areas of the team. For example, my team favorite, AC Milan, is currently lacking on defenders and midfielders because many of them are out with long-term injuries. So the club will use this window to buy a defender or two and a midfielder most likely.

While I’m already on the topic of AC Milan, let’s talk about potential signings for us. We have already been able to sign Lucas Paqueta from Flamengo in the Brazilian league. We are now just waiting for the window to start so that he can properly join the club. He is a young midfielder with lots of potential and can improve a lot in Europe. Another midfielder that we have been linked with is Chelsea’s, Cesc Fabregas. Since they signed Jorginho in the summer, Cesc has not been getting much playing time and is getting annoyed at the lack of playing time. We would be looking to sign him in the region of 8 million Euros.

Another Chelsea player that is linked with a move out of London is right-back Davide Zappacosta. He has been linked with two Italian clubs, one doing much better than the other in the league. These two clubs are Lazio and Roma. Lazio are in fifth place and looking on track for a Europa League spot if they are not able to overtake Milan and get to fourth. Roma are not doing as well as Lazio, and they would benefit more from bringing in Zappacosta. However, Zappacosta seems to enjoy being the preferred substitute right-back at Chelsea, and will most likely not move.

A player that has been heavily linked with many big clubs over the past few seasons is Olympique Lyonnaise’s attacking midfielder, Nabil Fekir. The team he has been in most contact with is Liverpool, and he was close to joining them over the summer but did not due to contract negotiations breaking down. There are three other teams that would want him, and they are Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, and Paris Saint-Germain. I am not sure how likely it is for him to move to Liverpool since they have already strengthened their midfield with Naby Keita, and I do not see him moving to PSG. The team that I think he would be most likely to move to is Real Madrid because they have been struggling and one of their key midfielders, Isco, has not been selected to play recently due to a falling out with the manager. If Fekir would leave Lyon, it would be in the range of 65 million Euros and upwards.

Because Isco is having a falling out with the manager, he has been linked with 5 major clubs. They are, and I will list them in the order in which I think he is most likely to transfer to, PSG, Juve, Manchester United, Arsenal, and Chelsea. I don’t think he is likely to move to Arsenal or Chelsea because their midfielders have been putting in work this season. I do not know what their stats are, but I do know that Jorginho (Chelsea) and Torreira (Arsenal), have both been absolute beasts this year and it is not likely they will be replaced any time soon. The only way Isco would move to United is if they sold one of their midfielders, Paul Pogba (to Barcelona). It is tied for me between PSG and Juve, but I put PSG first because it is most likely where Isco would get more playing time and would get paid the most. Juventus already have a very strong midfield, since they are top of the league. There are two reasons I can see for him moving here and they are to follow Ronaldo and to challenge himself in still a difficult league.

There is one more Chelsea player that is linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge, Chelsea’s stadium, and it is Eden Hazard. The three major teams that might win his signature are Real Madrid, PSG, and Juve. PSG will most likely not sign him in order to not break UEFA rules of overspending and overhauling their squad. Another reason is that they already have two of the best wingers in the world, the same position that Hazard plays. Juve will also not sign him because there is virtually no need for him. They already have a beast front three in the form of Ronaldo, Mandzukic (possibly Dybala), and Douglas Costa. Since they also spent more than 100 million in the summer, and Hazards fee would be around 150 million, they will not be making very many big money signings.

There are also a few, completely unrealistic, signings that I would like to see in order to spice up the world of football. The first one is for 19-year-old French wunderkind, Kylian Mbappe, to leave PSG and join either a team in the Premier League or one of the “top 3” teams in Spain (Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Atletico Madrid). That will be something no one expects, and since he is predicted to be the next best ever player, it would be very interesting to see what happens. Another one I would like to see is Paul Pogba to return back to Juve. During his time there, he was a very prolific player, loved by the fans, scored, assisted, and was dominant in the midfield. Nowadays, for Manchester United, he is not as big of a presence, and I believe a change of coach or change of club is required to rekindle the beast inside. A final one I would like to see is a well-respected and solid center back, come to AC Milan. Milan might already be eyeing some players up, but I want a big name. An example of this might be a Cesar Aziplicueta, Toby Alderweireld, or Kalidou Koulibaly. The latter is the one I would enjoy the most because it would weaken one of our Serie A rivals, Napoli, and help us the most in becoming solid in the back.

Hopefully, from this article, you learned something that you never would have thought about. Hopefully, you now understand what some of the big teams and names are in the footballing world. Another thing that you might now understand is how transfer windows work. Sadly, I do not think many of the transfers that I talked about will happen because these are just conspiracies and most of these players are enjoying their time at their current club. If you have any questions about anything that was talked about in this article please feel free to contact me at [email protected]