Good morning, Free Agents.

Welcome to the The Free Transfer— your daily 5-minute football newsletter.

Here’s the deal:

• Inter vs. Milan round 2 🔔🥊 

• Ilkay Gundogan future still undecided ❓️

• Time for Leicester to prepare for the drop? 🔻 

INTER VS. MILAN ROUND 2 🔔🥊

First match recap 1️⃣ 

Inter win in dominant style 🔵⚫️ 

• Two early goals gave Inter a 2-0 lead that they never looked like losing

• Without Rafael Leao, Milan ran out of ideas offensively

• Inter had multiple chances to increase it to a 3 goal margin, but missed their chances

Injury report 🚑️ 

Leao✅, Bennacer⛔️ 

• Pro for Milan: Rafael Leao is back. This means that their chances of scoring probably increase by 50% or more.

• Con for Milan: Ismael Bennacer is having surgery this morning for a knee injury he sustained last week in the first leg.

• For Inter, Milan Skriniar who has been struggling with a back injury for the whole second half of the season, is still listed as a “doubt”.

Second round preview 🥸 

From Milan’s point of view 🔴⚫️ 

• In the midfield, Tonali & Bennacer have been one of the best duos in Europe for the past 18 months.

  • Without Bennacer, Pioli will be forced to play Krunic, who is a solid midfielder, but nowhere near as dynamic as Bennacer.

• So while the addition of Leao to the attack will certainly increase their likelihood of getting back into the tie, the worry is being able to control the midfield without Bennacer.

From Inter’s point of view 🔵⚫️ 

• Inter did exactly what they needed to do in the first leg against Milan:

  • Midfielders made late runs into the box (see Mkhi goal).

  • Didn’t allow Giroud many important touches on the ball to start fastbreaks nor circulate play from the top.

  • Locked down their penalty box when leading (Milan’s best chances came from longer shots).

What will be different about the second leg? 🤔 

• Considering Bennacer played all of 18 minutes in the first leg, the only big change expected is the return of Rafa Leao.

• He will have ripple effects:

  • With players gravitating towards Leao, Theo Hernandez will have more space to operate in attacking down the left as well.

• Leao will look to get at Darmian at RCB (right centerback), as he can dominate him physically.

Gaffer’s Bet 🃏:

• With Leao back, Milan will score. The question is if Krunic can hold it down in midfield for Bennacer. Not likely.

• Score: Milan 2-1 Inter (2-3 aggregate)

GÜNDOĞAN’S FUTURE UNDECIDED ❓️ 

Will he stay in Manchester? Or seek a new challenge? 🔮 

The case for staying at Manchester City 🟦⬜️ 

• At Manchester City, he is a key cog in the machine.

  • Potentially one of the most important & underrated ones too

• He is the perfect Guardiola midfielder.

  • Intelligent, player-coach, comes up in big moments, and most importantly— is extremely technically secure

• At City, he has enjoyed back to back seasons where he has been their most important player during the Premier League run-in.

• Bottom line: Sometimes, the grass ain’t greener.

  • Gundo has made it clear he intends to be a manager after retiring, and many tip him to be a great one. Who better to learn from than Pep?

Rumored interest— does it have legs? 🦵🦵

Arsenal 🔫

• Gundogan could fit like a glove in the Granit Xhaka role at Arsenal.

• A free transfer for an elite player would suit the Gunners who have already been linked to high-ticket item players for the summer.

• Pep did allow two seemingly important squad players leave City for Arsenal last summer, but Gundo is more than a squad player.

• Not sure that Arteta will be looking to bring in a nearly 33 year old midfielder in a position where he has a 30, 31, & 31 year old already.

Barcelona 🔴🔵 

• As we know, Barca will be losing their key midfield controller in Sergio Busquets this summer. Could Gundo replace him?

• We spoke already about how Frenkie De Jong’s best position is likely a more free-roaming one than Busquets’s midfielder anchor role.

• Although Gundo is fairly diminutive & plays a more roaming role for City, he has the discipline to fill that anchor role at the bottom of midfield from an offensive/possession standpoint. He has before at City (for Rodri)!

• He does not fully replace Busquets’s qualities, but it’s unlikely anyone will. Gundo can bring discipline and calm to Barca’s build-up though.

Gaffer’s Bet 🃏:

• Gundogan will sign on a free transfer for Barcelona. Pep will cry and do another Aguero “we cannot replace him” speech, then buy a new world-class £80MM midfielder. In 2 yrs, Gundo will retire & become his assistant.

LEICESTER READY FOR RELEGATION?🦊🔻 

Liverpool may have given them a death blow 💀 

They had the world at their feet 🌍️ 

• The 15/16 champs had it all in front of them.

• After selling key players like Kante and Mahrez, they were able to retain Vardy and bring through new talent like Maddison & Barnes.

• Brendan Rodgers brought them within 4 points of Champions League in 19/20, then they missed out on Champions League on the final day in 20/21.

• From there, things were looking up. Despite big sales like that of Harry Maguire in summer 2019 & Ben Chilwell in summer 2020:

  • Söyüncü & Fofana were two of the most promising centerbacks in the league.

  • Maddison had become one of the PL’s most productive attacking midfielders.

  • Tielemans had quickly become a top central midfielder.

  • Daka (heavily targeted by Liverpool) was brought in from RB Salzburg as Vardy’s understudy.

  • Soumaré, a budding central midfielder from Lille, was brought in to play alongside Tielemans.

Where did it go wrong for Leicester? 😔 

• After two stellar seasons, Söyüncü was frozen out after injuries & a falling out with Rodgers.

• Daka never gelled with the team after getting stuck behind Ihenacho & Vardy in the pecking order, and not playing much.

• Soumaré had only 12 starts in the Premier League in 21/22, & quickly fell out of the picture for Rodgers.

• As 21/22 progressed, injuries (some long-term) to Vardy, Daka, Barnes, Fofana, Justin, Bertrand, Evans, Ricardo, & Söyüncü completely derailed their campaign.

• Coming into 22/23 the foxes sold Schmeichel, and then Fofana two games into the season.

• Fofana’s replacement, Wout Faes, could not play until mid-September.

  • By then, Leicester were already bottom of the league.

• It’s been an uphill battle ever since, & the bottom half of the Premier League is more competitive than ever.

There is still hope 🤲 

• Although they don’t control their own relegation destiny, there is still hope.

• With some help from teams above them & a win or two, maybe they can pull a rabbit out of their hat. They’ve beaten worse odds before. 😉 

Tuesday means Champions League.

That’s all from The Free Transfer for today, share the love with your friends 👇️👇️