FIFA's decision to open up the window for a short period has paid dividends as a host of new faces will be on show for the clubs in the United States
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The summer of club football is here, folks. The game's very best are gathering in the United States for the revamped Club World Cup in a first for the sport as we know it.
A total of 32 teams from six continents will battle to take home the new trophy, and in order to give teams further time to properly prepare, a special transfer window was opened at the start of June. And so though this is still technically the 2024-25 season, we will see some familiar names in unfamiliar shirts this tournament.
GOAL has you covered, though. Here are the 11 biggest signings for you to keep an eye out for at the Club World Cup…
Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱Getty Images SportTrent Alexander-Arnold (Real Madrid)
At the last, the red mist over Trent Alexander-Arnold's departure from Liverpool turned into the red smoke of title-party flares. The Anfield faithful may not have fully forgiven the right-back for his decision to leave, but they have made their peace with it at least.
It's a situation that has been helped by some late market manoeuvring. Instead of Alexander-Arnold simply leaving for nothing at the end of his contract, Real Madrid have paid the Premier League champions €10 million (£8.4m/$11.4m) to get him a month early in time for the group stage of the Club World Cup. Which, you know, seems a pretty steep price to pay, but if it ends with Los Blancos winning the whole thing, all will be forgotten.
How Alexander-Arnold will fit in under new manager Xabi Alonso will also be of intrigue as Madrid prepare for a period of transition following the Carlo Ancelotti era. This will effectively be their pre-season for next campaign, but with the demands of immediate victory. No pressure, lads.
AdvertisementManchester City FCTijjani Reijnders (Manchester City)
Manchester City are acting proactively and aggressively in their rebuild, freshening up Pep Guardiola's squad since their appalling start to 2024-25 with several new faces from the January window onwards. Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis came through the Etihad Stadium doors that month, and a couple more have arrived already this summer.
Most notably, Tijjani Reijnders has signed from AC Milan to give Pep Guardiola some extra oomph in the midfield department. The Netherlands international has developed into one of Europe's leading box-to-box supremos over the last couple of seasons and was the shining light in the Rossoneri's terrible season just gone. If anyone deserved to leave San Siro for another elite club, it was him.
Reijnders bears a slight stylistic resemblance to a prime Ilkay Gundogan, with the veteran version of the German on his last legs and nowhere near as reliable as he was pre-Barcelona move in 2023. If that's the sort of player he can be, then Reijnders will be a hit with the City faithful, starting with their Club World Cup campaign.
Watch every FIFA Club World Cup game free on DAZNStream nowGetty ImagesLiam Delap (Chelsea)
Chelsea fans are all too aware of the club's supposed 'No.9 curse'. Whoever dons that number tends to fail to live up to the hype, and it has eaten alive plenty of previous sure-thing signings in years gone by. Fernando Torres, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Romelu Lukaku, Gonzalo Higuain and Alvaro Morata are just some of the names who were weighed down by expectation.
Up next to try his luck is Liam Delap, who has joined from Ipswich Town for a relative snip at £30m following the Tractor Boys' relegation from the Premier League. Under the management of Kieran McKenna for just one season, he scored 12 goals in 37 league games and impressed with his rugged physicality.
The hope for Chelsea is that if Delap can continue harassing defenders, he will be rewarded with goals from a far more creative supporting cast, including former Manchester City team-mate Cole Palmer. Firing them to Club World Cup glory, after the club opted to pull him from England Under-21 duty, would go someway to paying off that transfer fee.
Getty ImagesJobe Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund)
Like Chelsea with Delap, Borussia Dortmund have pulled Jobe Bellingham from the U21 European Championship to play at the Club World Cup instead, such is FIFA's priority over UEFA competitions. And like Chelsea with Delap, we could be in for a treat if the midfielder is thrown in at the deep end.
Following in the footsteps of older brother Jude, Jobe has opted to take his talents to Signal-Iduna Park for the foreseeable future. Dortmund have such belief in the younger Bellingham that they have agreed to part company with €33m (£27.8m/$37.7m) plus a potential additional €5m (£4.2m/$5.7m) in add-ons to sign him. But unlike Jude, there is a far more convincing body of evidence pre-BVB that he will turn out a success.
Bellingham, who doesn't turn 20 until September, already has 116 senior appearances in the Championship under his belt, and was named as the division's Young Player of the Season this term after leading Sunderland to promotion via the play-offs.