The transfer window is heating up with players moving all over the place right now. Among all the big moves though are some that fly under the radar of most of the back pages. Here I'll be taking a look at some of the moves that caught my eye from a Sorare perspective, focused on player's previous scoring and potential to improve (or not) with their new clubs.
Kamil Piatkowski
Red Bull Salzburg >> KAA Gent
Loan
Kamil Piatkowski had a tough season at Salzburg last year, with two serious injuries. But when he did deputise as a centre back, his all around scoring was phenomenal. Gent were in the race to sign him with Salzburg initially, and he had interest from Leicester among other clubs in this window. He's been given the number 4 shirt which suggests to me we should expect to see him cement himself as a regular starter in Ghent. He's already spoken of his delight to be signing there and has even hinted that he'll hope the move could be made permanent in the summer should all things go well. With Salzburg letting go of Wober and likely to lose Solet before next season, they'll probably hope to keep their options open however. There is currently no option to buy included in this deal. Let's have a look at his scoring for Salzburg in the games he started last season. An average score of 68.9, with an all around average of 30.8 points per game is absolutely phenomenal. He managed this with just one positive decisive action across those 8 games which makes him dependable for a high score as a centre back - especially when keeping a clean sheet, his scores of 92 and 93 both came in games where he kept a clean sheet but had no decisive actions.
Price-wise he's a little expensive compared to his Gent team-mates currently. We have to take into account his U23 utility as well here which also bumps up his price. If you do target the U23 divisions though, he could be a bargain buy if he starts putting up the kind of scores we saw from him at Salzburg when starting. You can pick up his rare at 0.219 ETH at time of writing. But I'd expect that to rise swiftly if he establishes himself on the right side of a back three, as you would expect for him coming into the Gent lineup.
Josef Martinez
Atlanta United >>> Inter Miami
Permanent Deal
Inter Miami CF announced the signing of Venezuelan international striker Josef Martnez, a former Landon Donovan MLS MVP. After six seasons with Atlanta United, he leaves as a one-time MVP, MLS Cup champion, MLS golden boot winner, US Open Cup winner, and Campeones Cup champion. This is a sign of intent from Miami who are picking up a proven MLS star, after a relatively quiet season for him where expectations were high. After Higuain's retirement, Inter felt necessary to bring in an experienced head to line up most likely with Leonardo Campana up top. Looking solely at games where he has started, we need to go back to 2019 to find him at his most potent. In recent times he found himself on the bench more than often at Atlanta, but we'd expect to see more minutes for him at Miami who will be looking to ease in some of their young talent alongside Campana and Martinez. Will we see him improve on last season where he averaged 42 over his L15?
I'd say it comes down to minutes. If we look beyond Sorare Data, FBRef shows us how he shapes up per 90 when compared to other players who have had similar gametime in MLS.
He's still an extremely capable striker, who outperforms many in terms of assists as well. Forming a partnership with Campana up top who has a shot conversion rate of over 25% could see Martinez become quite a formidable creator given he has outperformed his Expected Assists in the past year.
Price-wise you'll be looking at paying between 0.2 and 0.3 ETH for his rare card. Quite pricey until we get confirmation of that starting place which will be so vital to him being a good value purchase. Based on his age and previous output you could find options closer to the 0.1 ETH mark. If he hits the ground running we could see his price hitting it's previous highs again though. If we look at his price graph over the past year, we can see he's currently in a low point of the trend. Approach with caution!
Yann Sommer
Borussia Monchengladbach >>> Bayern Munich
Permanent
As with any goalkeeper move, the market moves like wildfire with people hoping to snag a bargain, or an upgrade, or possibly the next U23 option ready to step in. In the case of Sommer's move to Bayern, we're seeing all three happen at once. Instead of focusing on the potential for Sommer, let's look at what effect this is having on the market around this move. We already know what Sommer will bring to Bayern - he'll be extremely useful for anyone targeting Champ Euro or holding a few Bayern cards. But what of the hole he leaves at Monchengladbach?
Jan Olschowsky is an option many have been rallying behind. He deputised for Sommer during his recent time out injured / suspended and put in some great performances. At just 20 years old and featuring in the Bundesliga, he presents a fairly safe purchase for anyone looking at U23 options long-term. But what about short term? As far as the Sorare market looks, the sentiment among managers seems he may not be the likely successor to Sommer's starting place. Since news of Sommer's deal broke, we've only seen a relative handful of sales for his rare card, and a small rise in price on his limited. Because of his recent appearances, his price was reasonably high already - especially adding the U23 tax we see for goalkeepers particularly. We'd usually see a U23 backup rocket 4 or 5 x in price on news like this but it's not been the case for Jan. A little bit of digging around suggests that Montpellier keeper Jonas Omlin could be on his way to Monchengladbach.
There was talk of Omlin being offloaded in the summer while his price was high. A fellow Swiss international, he's probably had the lowdown from Sommer. At 29 he's more experienced than Olschowsky and would likely start ahead of him given his international pedigree. With no Sorare cards on the platform yet we'll need to see what he costs as and when we get Bundesliga mints - as Fabrizio Romano has indicated that this deal is as good as done. It then begs the question - who do Montpellier sign in this situation? That my friends is the beauty of the goalkeeper roundabout on the Sorare market! Early digging suggests that we might see Bingourou Kamara take the number one spot should Montpellier not choose to bring in a new face, as he has filled in for Omlin most recently and has been their backup keeper on the bench of their most recent fixtures. But there are also rumours that Benjamin Lecomte could be signed from Espanyol. Neither of these options are cheap - both are currently priced over 0.4 ETH, and Montpellier are not the strongest option defensively.
In conclusion, it goes to show how lucrative the goalkeeper market can be on Sorare if you get ahead of the news. In the case of Sommer and the falling domino effect it will have in the coming days, it appears we might have arrived to the party a little late already.
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