Free agents: The five best unattached players available in each position

The summer transfer window has now closed, but Premier League clubs could still be on the lookout for free agents that could fill gaps in their squad on the cheap.

Free agents can sign for a new team at any time, so here’s a summary of some notable free agents available now. We’ve chosen five per position, but would you want to sign any of them for your club?

Free agent goalkeepers

Sergio Rico

• Last club: Al-Gharafa
• Salary: £28,000 per week
• Age: 32

Formerly of Fulham and PSG, Rico missed more than a year of action after a horse-riding injury in 2023.

He made his return in Qatar with Al-Gharafa, but terminated his contract after they left him out of their AFC Champions League squad.

Neto

• Last club: Botafogo
• Salary: N/A
• Age: 37

Former Bournemouth keeper Neto, who once had a loan spell as a backup for Arsenal, terminated his contract with Botafogo after just a year.

Jasper Cillessen

• Last club: NEC
• Salary: £6,000 per week
• Age: 37

Cillessen recently concluded a third spell with NEC, where he originally started a career that later took him to destinations like Ajax and Barcelona.

Alessio Cragno

• Last club: Sudtirol
• Salary: £9,000 per week
• Age: 32

Cragno has 170 Serie A appearances to his name, but his career has dwindled in recent years and he most recently played in Serie B. Anyone taking him next will have to wait for him to recover from an Achilles injury.

Etienne Green

• Last club: Fredericia
• Salary: N/A
• Age: 26

English-born keeper Green, who fittingly began his career with Saint-Etienne before spending a season as a backup for Burnley in 2024-25, left Danish side Fredericia at the end of a one-year contract.

Free agent right-backs

Dani Carvajal

• Last club: Real Madrid
• Salary: £173,000 per week
• Age: 34

Carvajal will go down as a Real Madrid legend after making more than 450 appearances for them and winning six Champions Leagues.

But the right-back is now ready for a new chapter, having stated in May: “I’ll keep playing, that’s sure for me. We’ll see what the best options are for me and my family, and based on that, I’ll make the decision.”

Ricardo Pereira

• Last club: Leicester City
• Salary: £80,000 per week
• Age: 32

There was a time when Pereira was one of the better right-backs outside the Premier League’s biggest clubs, but Leicester’s back-to-back relegations coincided with his exit from the club.

It would have been unsustainable for them to keep Pereira in League One, but his next step remains to be seen.

Hans Hateboer

• Last club: Rennes
• Salary: £24,000 per week
• Age: 32

Former Atalanta stalwart Hateboer spent the 2025-26 season on loan at Lyon from Rennes, who then released him at the end of his contract.

Pol Lirola

• Last club: Hellas Verona
• Salary: £13,000 per week
• Age: 28

Lirola only spent six months with Hellas Verona before being released, having previously made the bulk of his career appearances for Marseille, Sassuolo and Fiorentina.

Matteo Darmian

• Last club: Inter Milan
• Salary: £53,000 per week
• Age: 36

Former Manchester United defender Darmian spent the past six seasons with Inter, winning Serie A three times. He’s in his twilight years now, but that experience could be useful for somebody.

Free agent centre-backs

David Alaba

• Last club: Real Madrid
• Salary: £374,000 per week
• Age: 34

Alaba was a high-profile free signing for Real Madrid five years ago and he’ll be a high-profile free signing for someone else this year.

Now 34 and having had injury troubles, the Austrian may have to step down a level. Links with MLS or Saudi Pro League sides are inevitable.

Adam Webster

• Last club: Brighton
• Salary: £55,000 per week
• Age: 31

Webster enjoyed a seven-year spell with Brighton after making the step up from the Championship when he left Bristol City in 2019.

Chris Smalling

• Last club: Al-Fayha
• Salary: £98,000 per week
• Age: 36

Former Manchester United defender Smalling spent two years in Saudi Arabia with Al-Fayha after his rejuvenating five-year spell in Italy with Roma.

Sergio Ramos

• Last club: Monterrey
• Salary: £66,000 per week
• Age: 40

One of the best defenders of a generation, Ramos has been winding down his career and hasn’t played for a club since 2025. The Real Madrid legend was released by Monterrey in Mexico at the end of the calendar year.

Francesco Acerbi

• Last club: Inter Milan
• Salary: £46,000 per week
• Age: 38

Acerbi is approaching retirement but still managed to make nearly 150 appearances across a four-year spell with Inter, becoming a two-time Serie A champion.

Get the inside story first by joining our TEAMtalk Facebook channel to receive the latest breaking and exclusive news straight into your Messenger inbox.

Free agent left-backs

Raphael Guerreiro

• Last club: Bayern Munich
• Salary: £133,000 per week
• Age: 32

Guerreiro fell five games short of a century of appearances for Bayern Munich over the past three seasons after joining them on a free from Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund.

He has been linked with Bayer Leverkusen or tipped to play for a club in his native Portugal (he was born and started his career in France) for the first time.

Tyrell Malacia

• Last club: Manchester United
• Salary: £75,000 per week
• Age: 26

A range of issues meant Malacia was only able to make 28 Premier League appearances despite being on Man Utd’s books for four years.

The Dutchman only played three times after his return from a loan spell with PSV last summer.

Oleksandr Zinchenko

• Last club: Ajax
• Salary: £120,000 per week
• Age: 29

Zinchenko only lasted half a season with Ajax after signing a short-term deal upon his departure from Arsenal, playing only twice in the Eredivisie.

An ACL injury ended his time there prematurely and will have to be assessed by any potential takers.

Jamal Lewis

• Last club: Preston North End
• Salary: £15,000 per week
• Age: 28

Lewis’ career didn’t go quite as well as projected, but the former Newcastle defender still has some of it left at the age of 28.

He spent last season in the Championship with Preston after a spell on loan in Brazil with Sao Paulo. The second tier seems to be the former Norwich man’s level.

Brandon Williams

• Last club: Hull City
• Salary: £14,000 per week
• Age: 25

Williams has had a challenging couple of years and only made one appearance for Hull City in his half-season spell there, which came after a year out of the game for the former Manchester United prospect.

Free agent midfielders

Yves Bissouma

• Last club: Tottenham Hotspur
• Salary: £55,000 per week
• Age: 29

Bissouma turns 30 this summer and is looking for his next step after eight years in the Premier League, split evenly between spells at Brighton and Tottenham.

Ismael Bennacer

• Last club: AC Milan
• Salary: £116,000 per week
• Age: 28

Bennacer’s contract with Milan was terminated in August after Dinamo Zagreb declined an option to buy him after a loan spell last season.

He spent five and a half years in the Milan first team and was once on the books of Arsenal without playing.

Paul Pogba

• Last club: Monaco
• Salary: £44,000 per week
• Age: 33

Monaco brought Pogba back into football after his doping ban, but he only played six times in Ligue 1 for them before his deal was torn up due to persistent injuries.

Abdoulaye Doucoure

• Last club: Neom
• Salary: £160,000 per week
• Age: 32

A year after he left Everton for a spell in Saudi Arabia, Doucoure is a free agent again. He played 14 times for Neom but never scored for them.

Philippe Coutinho

• Last club: Vasco da Gama
• Salary: £56,000 per week
• Age: 34

A worn-down Coutinho terminated his contract with Brazilian side Vasco da Gama in February and the former Liverpool star remains without a club.

Free agent wingers

Riyad Mahrez

• Last club: Al-Ahli
• Salary: £861,000 per week
• Age: 35

Mahrez may be past his prime now, but the former Manchester City winger has been released by Al-Ahli, just after retiring from international duty with Algeria.

He was earning an enormous salary in Saudi Arabia which might be hard for other clubs to justify at this stage of his career.

Raheem Sterling

• Last club: Feyenoord
• Salary: £81,000 per week
• Age: 31

After his Chelsea contract was torn up, Sterling spent a few months with Feyenoord, but failed to score from his eight appearances for them.

What next for the former England star is a mystery.

Krepin Diatta

• Last club: Monaco
• Salary: £49,000 per week
• Age: 27

Able to play as a winger or wing-back, Diatta spent the past five and a half years with Monaco and was a member of Senegal’s World Cup squad in the summer.

Jadon Sancho

• Last club: Manchester United
• Salary: £250,000 per week
• Age: 26

Sancho never fulfilled his potential with Man Utd and is now on the lookout for a new club after spending last season on loan with Aston Villa.

Wilfried Zaha

• Last club: Galatasaray
• Salary: £72,000 per week
• Age: 33

Former Crystal Palace forward Zaha reached the end of his Galatasaray contract while playing on loan in MLS with Charlotte FC.

With 68 Premier League goals to his name, Zaha earned plenty of admirers in his prime.

Free agent strikers

Karim Benzema

• Last club: Al Hilal
• Salary: £2,000,000 per week
• Age: 39

Real Madrid legend Benzema has agreed to rip up his contract with Al Hilal, who he only joined from fellow Saudi side Al-Ittihad earlier this year.

At 39, retirement might be on the cards for the 2022 Ballon d’Or winner, but if he does keep playing, it probably won’t be on a £2m weekly salary anymore.

Mauro Icardi

• Last club: Galatasaray
• Salary: £124,000 per week
• Age: 33

Once one of the most coveted strikers in Europe, former Inter Milan and PSG man Icardi is available after four years with Galatasaray.

The Argentine scored 77 goals during that time but has now been linked with a return to Italian football.

Anthony Martial

• Last club: Monterrey
• Salary: N/A
• Age: 30

Former Manchester United forward Martial spent one season in Mexico, but only scored once for Monterrey.

Danny Ings

• Last club: Sheffield United
• Salary: £30,000 per week
• Age: 34

After a decade in the Premier League, Ings spent last season in the Championship with Sheffield United, but only scored twice.

Joselu

• Last club: Al-Gharafa
• Salary: £141,000 per week
• Age: 36

Joselu reached a career peak with his loan spell at Real Madrid in the 2023-24 season, after which he signed a lucrative deal in Qatar with Al-Gharafa, where he went on to score more than 25 goals.

DON’T MISS: All the done deals by Premier League clubs in the summer 2026 transfer window