Europe

September is upon us. For many, that means looking forward to cooler weather and an opportunity to view the fall coloring. For soccer fans, however, that means a few weeks of zero club action. There will be no games until the weekend of September 10 because of the break for international matches

Why the interruption? Well, this particular break is to stop play so players could take part in qualifying matches for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Yet, for fans, that means no top level club soccer matches, which simply isn’t fair. 

The 2016 summer transfer window is officially closed. There have been many exciting transfers as well as some truly terrible, overpriced ones. We're only a few weeks into the new season so we don’t know for sure how these transfers are going to work out, but we've come up with a list of 10 transfers which we anticipate will prove worthless.

10 Summer Transfers That Are Destined To Fail

#10: Maarten Stekelenburg | Fulham to Everton

The list of great Italian goalkeepers surpasses that of any other nation on the planet. The likes of Gianluigi Buffon, Dino Zoff and Walter Zenga, to name just a few, have all represented the Azzurri with great ability and longevity. On Thursday, we got our first look at the next great Italian goalkeeper, AC Milan’s exceptional 17-year-old Gianluigi Donnarumma. 

Yaya Toure reportedly told Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola back in May that he was determined to fight for his future at the club and see out the remaining year of his contract.

Bobby Wood’s play hasn’t been dissected to the level with which we’ve examined Gyasi Zardes. Wood, at 23, doesn’t come with the ‘phenom’ label that’s attached to Jordan Morris. He doesn’t uniformly divide opinion like Jozy Altidore or Chris Wondolowski. Wood has endeared himself to USMNT supporters without ever triggering the American soccer hype machine.

The Netherlands used to be really good. I solemnly swear it. At the 2014 World Cup, Robin van Persie made us believe in the possibility of the human body achieving flight. At the 2010 World Cup, Wesley Sneijder demonstrated everything that is possible in an impeccable Dutch playmaker.

Wayne Rooney announced this week that the 2018 World Cup will be his last for England’s national team. For some, his departure couldn’t come soon enough — if only because supporters are anxious to see new faces on the squad that seems to never fail to disappoint.

The Three Lions’ flop at Euro 2016, and the changes in its aftermath, have only fueled these desires.

“I uh…I eat a lot of frozen stuff…It’s usually pretty bad, I mean the pictures are always so awesome, you know? It’s like ‘Hell yeah, I’m starved for this lasagna!’ and then you nuke it and the cheese gets all scabby on top and it’s like…it’s like you’re eating a scab…I mean, seriously, what’s that about? It’s like ‘Yo! What ever happened to truth in advertising?’ You know?” -Jesse Pinkman

This quote from Aaron Paul’s Breaking Bad character could effectively be applied to Paul’s own PokerStars Duel face-off against footballing superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. 

Oliver Kahn collected 86 appearances for Germany and 429 for Bayern Munich. Twice he finished third in Ballon d’Or voting — a sensational achievement for a goalkeeper. So, when Kahn reveals what the greatest goal ever scored on him was, we should all be paying attention.

Having called time on his playing days back the 2008, the now 47-year-old shot stopper took to Twitter to celebrate the anniversary of that goal. 

“Exactly 23 years ago today is this sensational goal from Jay-Jay Okocha — and I’m still dizzy…” said Kahn.  

David Luiz, the foremost offensive center back in the world, is returning from whence he came. Luiz is reported moving back to Chelsea from PSG, reversing the move he made in 2014.

We could not be happier about this, as Luiz is one of the most entertaining players in the game. His unique skill set (for a center back) guarantees you one thing: there will be goals.