Noah Atubolu had pictured this period very differently. While his team-mates recently prepared for the new season against a picturesque Alpine backdrop, he was left alone at SC Freiburg's training ground. Even months after submitting his transfer request a year before the end of his contract, he remains a long way from his goal of joining a top European club, preferably in England.
The 24-year-old still has not found a new club that meets his demands. A quick solution is nowhere in sight. The highly talented goalkeeper, regarded as one of Germany's hopes for the future, has seriously overplayed his hand. "Perhaps we all underestimated a little how late momentum comes into this special goalkeeper market," SC sporting director Klemens Hartenbach recently told kicker.
Nor is Atubolu the only one struggling to find a club. Other prominent cases show the same thing: Marc-Andre ter Stegen's loan move to Ajax has dragged on for weeks, the previously unattached Stefan Ortega made what initially looked like an unusual move to Olympiakos Piraeus, and Alexander Nübel also did not end up in one of the top leagues and somewhat surprisingly signed for Besiktas Istanbul.
Assuming the goalkeeper market is simply oversaturated does not go far enough. Several factors are playing a decisive role in why highly gifted club keepers supposedly have to lower their sights or could even be left behind altogether.
Stalling goalkeeper market: the main problem lies in England
Much of the lack of movement comes from England. More precisely, from the Premier League, as Markus Krösche recently explained in kicker. "You can tell that all clubs first have to sell. The buyer's market in England is only really starting now. They bring the money into the market - all the other countries do not really bring much money into the market any more. Bayern have now invested, but that is our industry's leading force with different conditions. All the other clubs are waiting for sales because they need income. We have already taken in more than €80 million, and that was certainly also helpful for our transfers on the incoming side," said Eintracht Frankfurt's board member for sport.
Krösche was not talking only about goalkeepers, but about the global market. Outside the absolute elite, the other leagues are dependent on England in one way or another. The many mid-table and lower-level clubs in Spain, France or Italy, aside from the very biggest names such as Barca, Real, Inter or PSG, simply cannot afford to sign a goalkeeper or outfield player who would trigger a market-shifting domino effect.
According to SPOX information, a reserve goalkeeper in the Premier League earns more than some number ones in the other top leagues. Only when the English market wakes up does most of the money pour into the other leagues and spread across the various markets. Right down to the lower divisions. In England, though, clubs traditionally move very late, and that has also shaped a quiet transfer window so far. The summer lull does not only apply on the pitch.
Getty ImagesAbsurd imbalance: Man City's backup keeper moves for more than €40m
Another example of that imbalance is the impending move of James Trafford. According to widespread media reports, Leeds United are paying well over €40 million to Manchester City for the first backup to GIanluigi Donnarumma, who since returning in summer 2025 has at least played 17 times for his boyhood club despite being number two. At the same time, his minutes do not justify the absurdly high sum of €31.2 million that the Sky Blues paid Burnley FC via release clause for the then 22-year-old, and yet Man City are still set to walk away from the brief spell with a handsome transfer profit.
His replacement is set to be Rulli of Olympique Marseille, which would allow him to cash in once more at the end of his career at 34. But with the comparatively modest million-euro fee from Manchester, the French club do not have the financial power to buy a new number one from the Atubolu bracket, who is expected to bring Freiburg around €20 million. Instead, they will have to shop one or two shelves lower.
Something similar applies to Nübel. In the case of the World Cup participant, who spent the past three years on loan at VfB Stuttgart, money also played a dominant role in his surprising and heavily scrutinised move out of the top leagues to Besiktas Istanbul. He had no market in his preferred destination England. Clubs outside the island, meanwhile, were nowhere near able to finance the overall package of fee and high salary.
To make up for the shortfall on his payslip, he is even said to have insisted on a compensatory payment from FCB. Besiktas, who have weakened in recent years, are funding the move through a real-estate construction project expected to generate up to €400 million in revenue. According to information from SPOX, the move to the Turkish metropolis was ultimately a consensus decision built on a full bank account and a guaranteed starting place at a potential European qualifier. Similar to Ortega.
Money tap turned off: Saudi Arabia no longer an alternative to England
If clubs have less money to spend, only one option remains: move quickly. In Germany, that pattern has been obvious for years. Even Bayern Munich, who are financially well clear of the rest, wrapped up their incoming business early with the signings of Nathaniel Brown and Ismael Saibari and will not change anything unless, against expectations, one of their big stars still leaves.
The World Cup has also slowed transfer activity further. Attention was on America, because players and agents initially took holidays and are only now returning to everyday business. On top of that, the Saudi Arabian market has changed noticeably. The wealthy sheikhs seem to have turned off the money tap, so an alternative market to England has fallen away. Current rumours around Cristiano Ronaldo's club Al-Nassr back that up, according to which the desert state's sovereign wealth funds (PIF) have imposed a transfer ban on the club because of its high mountain of debt. The liabilities are said to total just over €187 million.
Experience suggests the transfer market will only properly come to life again in mid-August, when players can put themselves in the shop window and impress in league matches. That leaves selling clubs with less time to find replacements, which in turn pushes prices up. It is a familiar pattern from recent years and once again it suits the waiting clubs in England.
That is why it was no surprise to see SC Freiburg move early for an Atubolu replacement in Mio Backhaus, €12 million from Werder Bremen, even though Atubolu has not yet left. Otherwise the Breisgau club would have risked being left without a replacement if he departed shortly before the transfer window closes on 1 September. Freiburg would also almost certainly have faced rising fee demands after the presumably high income from an Atubolu sale.
Getty ImagesNot unknown to Bayern Munich either: Noah Atubolu's adviser has miscalculated
That makes the situation Atubolu has got himself into, or been led into, all the more surprising. The suspicion is obvious that he, and above all his advisers, completely misread the market. Everyone should have known the goalkeeper market is generally tougher because there are fewer places to fill in any squad. But it is hard to explain such a misjudgement of the wider issue outlined above.
His agency is hardly an unknown quantity either. Since January 2026, only a few months before his transfer request became public, he has been represented by Epic Sports and star adviser Ali Barat, who is also no stranger to Bayern Munich. Last summer, the Iranian brokered Nicolas Jackson's expensive loan deal with Chelsea and then largely celebrated himself for it in a deeply bizarre press release under the headline "Ali Barat has redefined the game". The statement appeared just 13 minutes after the official announcement of the transfer and included figures that are usually never made public in such detail in the industry.
Barat has since built up a stable of high-profile players, which makes the misreading in Atubolu's case look even more surprising. So does the fact that at the end of 2025 he even won an award from Italian sports newspaper Tuttosport for best agent of the year. It was the second time after 2023, putting him alongside fellow two-time winner and long-time CR7 adviser Jorge Mendes (Gestifute).
For now, though, he has not been able to deliver his client's dream move to the island, with Atubolu said to have been "a big fan" of the Premier League "since childhood". According to Hartenbach, Atubolu is now in the transition phase and is "personally holding talks with clubs". But the hoped-for domino effect has still not arrived and may not arrive at all in his position. On top of that, he still has certain expectations of his new employer. Hull City and Coventry City were reportedly at least one size too small for him. Atubolu is said to have turned down both promoted sides.
Time is running out in the search for the best possible solution. Otherwise, Atubolu faces a lost year in the Freiburg stands. That would leave him with no chance to recommend himself to new Germany head coach Jürgen Klopp for the vacant role of number one for Germany. Until then, his relationship status with his dream destination remains complicated, and of all things the reason lies with the Premier League itself.