There are a whole raft of free transfers available this summer – with England strikers Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Callum Wilson both available. Here are the best 20 players available for nothing right now.
And here we look at all 20 Premier League clubs and their best ever free hit…
ARSENAL: Sol Campbell
This one is a no-brainer. The same was said of another Arsenal free transfer, mind. Campbell was not just Arsenal’s greatest Bosman signing but one of the most successful in Premier League history. A defensive colossus, two Premier League titles made him a hero even without the priceless Tottenham banter. He was so good they signed him twice. It’s also a shame they signed him twice.
ASTON VILLA: Youri Tielemans
After a first season which was more than a little underwhelming, the Belgian was phenomenal in 2024/25 and was deservedly crowned Villan of the Year by both supporters and his teammates. A genuine all-round midfielder, he takes over from Thomas Hitzlsperger as Villa’s best free transfer signing. Now we just need him to develop the accent…
BOURNEMOUTH: Neto
It was described as “a real coup” by the club at the time and it really was; little Bournemouth signing a Brazilian international from Barcelona would have sounded ludicrous a decade before. He joined in 2022, helped keep the Cherries in the Premier League, signed a new deal and became club captain. We will just skate over the part where he was usurped by loan signing Kepa and spent a season on Arsenal’s bench, playing just once.
BRENTFORD: Christian Eriksen
The tragedy that befell Eriksen at Euro 2020 (and Thomas Frank being Danish) made it possible for a lovely Premier League club to sign one of the great Premier League midfielders of the last decade. He rejuvenated what was fast becoming an ailing season and left at the end of the season for Manchester United. Everybody felt better for the experience.
BRIGHTON: Bruno
“Once a Seagull, always a Seagull,” were the final words of Bruno’s farewell speech after seven years at Brighton as right-back and mostly captain. He was true-ish to his word as he stayed there in a coaching capacity, until Chelsea took him with Graham Potter. Few predicted such longevity when Gus Poyet negotiated the arrival of the 31-year-old Spaniard in 2012. He would go on to help Brighton into the Premier League, being voted into the PFA Championship Team of the Year in successive seasons.
BURNLEY: Tom Heaton
Sean Dyche’s very first signing for Burnley in 2013 was a former Manchester United goalkeeper who had been on trial at Bristol City 12 months before. And what a signing he turned out to be; six years later he left for £8m having played 200 games for the Clarets which featured two promotions and three England caps. “Tom has been a terrific servant to the club, as an individual, for the team and for the fans,” said Dyche.
CHELSEA: Ruud Gullit
Some genuine competition here with Michael Ballack and Gus Poyet also making excellent cases, but the nod goes to Gullit because this was a ‘sit up and take notice’ signing, an actual legend joining a club that carried the stench of Dennis Wise, Gavin Peacock and Frank Sinclair. This was when the new Chelsea was born, with Gullit taking over as player-manager the following year and bringing players like Gianfranco Zola and Gianluca Vialli to these shores. Chelsea could fill this list by themselves.
CRYSTAL PALACE: Ian Wright
We are going pre-Premier League for this one, because we simply cannot ignore a man bought not quite for nothing, but we’re rounding down from ‘a set of dumbbells’. Wright scored over 100 goals for Palace over six seasons, taking them into the top flight and keeping them there before joining Arsenal and becoming a legend there too. What a signing. We wonder how long Greenwich Borough kept those weights…
EVERTON: Gareth Barry
The template was there for Liverpool to make their inspired James Milner signing as Everton had brought in another English midfield stalwart from Manchester City on a free transfer the year before. Barry had already enjoyed a season-long loan and in four seasons with the Toffees he predictably made over 150 appearances, never giving anything less than full commitment.
FULHAM: Mark Schwarzer
With apologies to Carlos Bocanegra and Kit Symons, as well as Europa League finalists Zoltan Gera, Danny Murphy and Simon Davies, the nod must go to Mark Schwarzer of being Australian fame.
How many other players can claim to have reached European finals with two different Premier League clubs? A few, perhaps. But who can say they did it with Middlesbrough and Fulham? Well that would be Schwarzer, whose Wikipedia page reliably informs us is ‘regarded as one of the greatest Premier League goalkeepers of all time’. He did win consecutive top-flight titles without playing a single game, after all. As for Fulham, they finished between 7th and 12th in his five seasons at the Cottage, then suffered relegation straight after he left for Leicester.
LEEDS UNITED: Pablo Hernandez
Signed on a permanent deal after an initial loan spell under Garry Monk, the actual Spanish international was magic in a Leeds shirt, thriving under Marcelo Bielsa as the Whites returned to the Premier League. In three consecutive seasons, he was Leeds United’s Player of the Year as young Whites fans starved of sexy football saw it all from Pablo. And the best thing for a Yorkshire club? He cost nowt.
LIVERPOOL: James Milner
Who else but the man who left in 2023 after completing his eighth season with Liverpool who has played in about eight positions and never given less than all his heart in every one? Liverpool signed a double Premier League winner on a free transfer and gained the fittest man on Merseyside who scored 26 goals in 289 appearances and was instrumental in winning the Premier League and Champions League. A move that was supposed to be a swansong became the longest and most rewarding of his career. The ultimate jack of no trades and master of all.
MANCHESTER CITY: Two-time Champions League winner Scott Carson
Never once let City down.
MANCHESTER UNITED: Zlatan Ibrahimovic
A serial title winner and ridiculous goalscorer (and scorer of ridiculous goals), the Swede was a sticking plaster of a striker signing from Jose Mourinho in 2016 but he helped the club to League Cup and Europa League glory while lending them the illusion of glamour. His 28 goals from 46 games made a second contract too tempting to resist, though that ultimately proved to be a mistake.
NEWCASTLE UNITED: Demba Ba
The really quite brilliant Ba scored 29 goals in 58 appearances for the Magpies over 18 months after joining on a free transfer from West Ham after their relegation. His 16 Premier League goals were vital in Newcastle’s unlikely fifth-place finish under Pardew, but in January 2013 he quite understandably jumped at the chance to join Chelsea and Newcastle were quite happy to accept £7m for a player that had cost them bugger all.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST: Andy Reid
Steve McClaren did not get many things right as Nottingham Forest manager but his one gift to the club was the return of Reid, who had started his career at the club before joining Tottenham in 2005. Six years later he was back after a poor spell at Blackpool and expectations were low. It turned out that once he was fit, he was brilliant; he was named in the Championship Team of the Year in 2013/14 at the age of 31 and when he retired two years later, he joined the coaching staff. A genuine legend. But Ola Aina is closing in…
SUNDERLAND: Sebastian Larsson
Arsene Wenger called him “maybe the best in the league as a free-kick-taker” and he scored a fair few over six seasons at Sunderland after joining on a free transfer from Birmingham to link up with Steve Bruce again. He was Sunderland’s Supporters’ Player of the Year for the 2014/15 season as he never gave less than full commitment to the Mackem cause.
TOTTENHAM: Brad Friedel
Free. Actually free. It was at Tottenham that Friedel’s run of 310 consecutive Premier League games was ended in October 2012 by fancy new French signing Hugo Lloris, but the American had already become a Spurs hero even though he signed at the grand old age of 40. He had signed as competition for Heurelho Gomes and Carlo Cudicini but proved to be better than both. Of course he did.
WEST HAM: Teddy Sheringham
West Ham’s propensity for big wages has led to some marquee names arriving for free, with Jack Wilshere, Pablo Zabaleta and, erm, Alvaro Arbeloa arriving in the last few years. But the daddy of all their free transfer signings was Teddy Sheringham, who casually scored 20 Championship goals at the age of 38 to help them back into the Premier League. And then he stayed to play games and score the occasional goal.
WOLVES: Ryan Bennett
Not a sexy free transfer but a free transfer nevertheless. And he was solid as a rock for Wolves.
