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

The January transfer window has 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

Salvatore Sirigu

• Last club: Palermo
• Salary: £10,000 per week
• Age: 39
• Career appearances: 544

Sirigu returned to the first club of his career, Palermo, for the 2024-25 season in Serie B.

Best known for his spell with PSG more than a decade ago, Sirigu was a backup for Palermo but hasn’t indicated if he’ll be retiring yet.

Ruben Blanco

• Last club: Marseille
• Salary: £36,000 per week
• Age: 30
• Career appearances: 188

Blanco was with Marseille from 2022 after spending all of his career until then with Celta, but his contract in France was terminated in January after a lack of gametime.

Jeroen Houwen

• Last club: RKC Waalwijk
• Salary: £3,000 per week
• Age: 29
• Career appearances: 84

A former Netherlands youth international, Houwen was first-choice in the Eredivisie for Waalwijk last season.

Luigi Sepe

• Last club: Salernitana
• Salary: £18,000 per week
• Age: 34
• Career appearances: 292

Sepe has spent his whole career in Italy, most recently in Serie B with Salernitana but predominantly in the top tier with the likes of Parma and Empoli.

Vicente Guaita

• Last club: Parma
• Salary: £12,000 per week
• Age: 39
• Career appearances: 518

Former Crystal Palace keeper Guaita never played for Parma during his short spell there after previously playing for Celta after his departure from the Premier League.

Free agent right-backs

Rick Karsdorp

• Last club: PSV
• Salary: £49,000 per week
• Age: 30
• Career appearances: 300

Karsdorp’s second return to Dutch football, after a turbulent spell in Italy with Roma, only lasted a year, with PSV giving him just 20 appearances last season. He encountered problematic knee issues along the way and has confirmed he is taking some time out of the game.

Mattia De Sciglio

• Last club: Juventus
• Salary: £46,000 per week
• Age: 33
• Career appearances: 302

Getting to the age of 33 and only ever being owned by AC Milan and Juventus makes for a respectable CV. But De Sciglio fell out of favour with the latter and spent last season on loan with Empoli, a few years after his only other loan spell with Lyon.

Timothy Fosu-Mensah

• Last club: Bayer Leverkusen
• Salary: £15,000 per week
• Age: 28
• Career appearances: 97

Former Manchester United defender Fosu-Mensah was unused by Bayer Leverkusen in his final season with the club and then released by the Bundesliga champions in 2024, and remains without a club.

Junior Sambia

• Last club: Empoli
• Salary: £33,000 per week
• Age: 29
• Career appearances: 324

Sambia spent four years in Ligue 1 with Montpellier and then three in Serie A – first with Salernitana and latterly with Empoli on loan – before his contract was mutually terminated in the summer.

Brooks Lennon

• Last club: Atlanta United
• Salary: £11,000 per week
• Age: 28
• Career appearances: 288

American right-back Lennon spent a couple of years developing with Liverpool earlier in his career, but has spent the bulk of his career in MLS, recently being let go by Atlanta United while suffering from Achilles tendon problems.

Free agent centre-backs

Daniel Amartey

• Last club: Besiktas
• Salary: £50,000 per week
• Age: 31
• Career appearances: 276

Ex-Leicester man Daniel Amartey, who can also play in midfield, only spent the 2023-24 season at Besiktas before being released and has been inactive since.

Craig Dawson

• Last club: Wolves
• Salary: £45,000 per week
• Age: 35
• Career appearances: 512

Dawson’s last appearance for Wolves was in December 2024 before a second half of the season in which he didn’t play. However, the former West Ham centre-half has plenty of experience throughout levels of the English game.

Kortney Hause

• Last club: Aston Villa
• Salary: £10,000 per week
• Age: 30
• Career appearances: 186

Injuries have been to blame for Hause’s fade from the radar in recent years and he was freed up by Aston Villa at the end of his contract in June 2025.

Kurt Zouma

• Last club: CFR Cluj
• Salary: N/A
• Age: 31
• Career appearances: 435

Former Chelsea and West Ham defender Zouma saw his contract with Romanian side CFR Cluj terminated in January after just four months with the club.

Jason Denayer

• Last club: Al Fateh
• Salary: £79,000 per week
• Age: 30
• Career appearances: 309

Former Manchester City, Sunderland and Celtic defender Denayer hasn’t played in Europe since 2022 when he left Lyon. At the end of January, he terminated his contract with Al Fateh in the Saudi Pro League.

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Free agent left-backs

Juan Bernat

• Last club: Getafe
• Salary: £63,000 per week
• Age: 32
• Career appearances: 373

Bernat had a brief spell with Getafe at the end of last season after Villarreal decided to move him on quickly after his loan from Paris Saint-Germain.

The former Bayern Munich full-back previously earned 11 caps for Spain over a five-year period.

Brandon Williams

• Last club: Hull City
• Salary: £30,000 per week
• Age: 25
• Career appearances: 98

Former Manchester United prospect Williams spent the whole 2024-25 season out of the game before signing terms with Hull City in the summer, only for his contract to be terminated after half a season to free him up to pursue other opportunities.

Jordan Amavi

• Last club: Brest
• Salary: £18,000 per week
• Age: 31
• Career appearances: 265

Formerly of Aston Villa – with whom he spent one season in the Premier League and one in the Championship – Amavi was released by Brest after making 13 appearances last season.

Philipp Max

• Last club: Panathinaikos
• Salary: N/A
• Age: 32
• Career appearances: 367

Max earned three caps for Germany in 2020, when he was playing for PSV at club level. After his time in the Eredivisie, he has played for Eintracht Frankfurt and then Panathinaikos, who let go of him in January.

Logan Ndenbe

• Last club: Sporting Kansas City
• Salary: £8,000 per week
• Age: 25
• Career appearances: 135

A former Belgium U21 international, Ndenbe spent the past three years in MLS with Sporting Kansas City. His last club back in Europe were Guingamp.

Free agent midfielders

Dele Alli

• Last club: Como
• Salary: £92,000 per week
• Age: 29
• Career appearances: 386

Dele was hoping his new challenge with Como in Serie A could revitalise his career, but he only made one appearance for Cesc Fabregas’ side and got sent off within less than 10 minutes.

The former Tottenham Hotspur prospect saw his deal terminated in August.

Jesse Lingard

• Last club: FC Seoul
• Salary: N/A
• Age: 33
• Career appearances: 385

Former Man Utd, West Ham and Nottingham Forest attacking midfielder Lingard recently finished his spell in South Korea with FC Seoul, where he scored 19 goals from 67 games.

He has been linked with a move to Robin van Persie’s Feyenoord, among other options.

Giacomo Bonaventura

• Last club: Al-Shabab
• Salary: £69,000 per week
• Age: 36
• Career appearances: 535

After a respectable career in Serie A including lengthy stints with Atalanta, AC Milan and Fiorentina, Bonaventura spent last season in the Saudi Pro League.

Able to play as a winger earlier in his career, he could be a utility option for someone looking to add to their midfield ranks – but at his age and with his injury history, his best years are behind him.

Tiemoue Bakayoko

• Last club: PAOK
• Salary: £7,000 per week
• Age: 31
• Career appearances: 323

The former Chelsea flop spent last season with PAOK in the Greek Super League and is still only in his early thirties. Although he has struggled to convince at the elite level, he could be useful for a club with mid-sized ambitions.

Aaron Ramsey

• Last club: Pumas UNAM
• Salary: £10,000 per week
• Age: 35
• Career appearances: 548

Ramsey left Mexican side Pumas UNAM in October after a difficult time there, worsened off the pitch by the disappearance of his dog. Earlier in his career, he enjoyed a successful spell with Arsenal, before representing the likes of Juventus, Rangers, Nice and his first club, Cardiff City.

Free agent wingers

Ryan Kent

• Last club: Seattle Sounders
• Salary: £13,000 per week
• Age: 29
• Career appearances: 323

Best known for his time with Rangers, Liverpool academy graduate Kent is well travelled now, having played for clubs in Germany, Turkey and the USA.

Seattle Sounders rejected an option to extend his contract for another year in January, freeing him up for a new challenge.

Helder Costa

• Last club: Yunnan Yukun
• Salary: £13,000 per week
• Age: 31
• Career appearances: 349

Since leaving English football, former Wolves and Leeds winger Costa has played in Spain, Saudi Arabia, Portugal and China.

Malcolm Ebiowei

• Last club: Blackpool
• Salary: £10,000 per week
• Age: 22
• Career appearances: 48

After spells in the academies of Chelsea, Arsenal and Rangers, Ebiowei earned a Premier League move to Crystal Palace from Derby County in 2022.

But he only ever played five times for Palace and signed a two-year deal with Blackpool in the summer, only to leave by mutual consent in September.

Jayden Braaf

• Last club: Hellas Verona
• Salary: £5,000 per week
• Age: 23
• Career appearances: 34

Braaf left Manchester City for Borussia Dortmund in 2022, drawing parallels with Jadon Sancho’s similar career move. However, it didn’t take off for him.

The left winger joined Hellas Verona in 2023 but only played six times for them and spent last season on loan in Serie B with Salernitana before being released.

Nathan Redmond

• Last club: Sheffield Wednesday
• Salary: N/A
• Age: 31
• Career appearances: 490

Redmond became a free agent in the summer when Burnley released him on the back of their promotion to the Premier League, but the one-time England international was picked up by Sheffield Wednesday in November.

It was only a short-term deal until the end of January, though, and injury issues – plus the fact all seven of his appearances came from the bench – meant his stay was not extended by the Championship strugglers.

Free agent strikers

Paco Alcacer

• Last club: Sharjah
• Salary: Unknown
• Age: 32
• Career appearances: 435

A well-travelled striker, Alcacer has played for four clubs since leaving Barcelona in 2019. Borussia Dortmund and Villarreal were his most recent clubs in Europe, before spells in the Middle East with Sharjah and Emirates.

Now 32, Alcacer boasted a decent record of 12 goals from 19 caps for Spain, but hasn’t played for his country for more than five years.

Leo Bonatini

• Last club: Atletico San Luis
• Salary: £4,000 per week
• Age: 31
• Career appearances: 305

Part of the Wolves squad that won promotion to the Premier League back in 2017-18, Bonatini has since played for Nottingham Forest, Vitoria Guimaraes, Grasshoppers and Mexican side Atletico San Luis.

Odion Ighalo

• Last club: Al-Wehda
• Salary: £57,000 per week
• Age: 36
• Career appearances: 533

Since his time on loan at Manchester United around five years ago, Ighalo has been playing in the Saudi Pro League, with three different clubs.

The most recent, Al-Wehda, let him go in the summer after he scored 23 goals in 68 games for them.

Diego Costa

• Last club: Gremio
• Salary: £9,000 per week
• Age: 37
• Career appearances: 561

Former Chelsea and Wolves striker Costa was released by Gremio in January after scoring eight goals 26 games for the Brazilian side.

He hasn’t played in Europe since 2023.

Divock Origi

• Last club: AC Milan
• Salary: £86,000 per week
• Age: 30
• Career appearances: 369

Origi was a cult hero at Liverpool but has struggled to find a spark anywhere else since. Milan demoted the Belgian to their reserve team in 2024 after a loan spell with Nottingham Forest and then released him just before Christmas.

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