Journalist Fabio Rossi casts his eye over the winners and losers of the transfer window now that each club has finalised their 22-man squad for Season 2.

Flávio Castilho 🇧🇷 18 year old Left Back - Academy Promotion 
Junior Ybarra 🇧🇷 18 year old Striker - Draft Pick #5 

Rodrigo Miranda 🇵🇹 24 year old Striker - Cut 

Castilho is the pick of the new players for me, but there have only been very minor changes at Amazônia in this transfer window. For a team that finished 8th, Marcos Dos Santos must be happy with his squad, perhaps with a new formation. There seems to be a lot of belief, maybe faith, that Barros and Geraldes to step up to an even higher level in Season 2. 

C 

Predicted XI
                 Joseph 
Rios Carvalho Ribeiro Castilho 
      Viana             Zimmerman 
                Geraldes 
Olivieri     Barros       Sàenz

Ins
Eduardo Ballesteros 🇲🇽 18 year old Midfielder - Draft Pick #6
Vinicio Zapeda 🇬🇹 20 year old Goalkeeper - Draft Pick #18
Nate Gomez 🇺🇸 18 year old Winger - Academy Promotion
Vasily Malyarov 🇷🇺 22 year old Left Back - Trade from Riyadh Stars

Outs 

Joost de Groot 🇳🇱 26 year old Midfielder - Trade to Riyadh Stars
Pape Pouye 🇮🇩 18 year old Striker - Cut
Marcus Stinson 🇨🇦 23 year old Goalkeeper - Cut

Review 

With four in and three out, Angelenos have been more active than most but I don’t see this as being a time of revolution. I think Nate Gomez will get some starts but none of the others will be heavily involved first XI players. I also don’t think they’ve lost much. Joost de Groot started 10 matches last season but won’t be a significant loss. 

C

Predicted XI
                Clement
Chen Macias Acevedo Duke
      Leon            Zacarias
                   Osei
Jackson-Cook   Morales  Dahlin

Liam O’Malley 🇮🇪 18 year old Attacking Midfielder - Draft Pick #4
Błażej Kostrzewski 🇵🇱 18 year old Left Back - Draft Pick #16
Ravindra Bai 🇮🇳 18 year old Right Back - Academy Promotion

Outs 

Tao Song 🇨🇳 20 year old Striker - Cut
Habibullah Haider 🇦🇫 18 year old Right Back - Cut

Review 

The Phoenix Rising fell agonisingly short of finals football in Season One. Star midfielder Ravi Dasar at 19 years old should be even better than he was at 18 which will make a big difference. O’Malley will play plenty of football and Head Coach Thomas Nilsson will be able to find where he is most effective. A team that lost nothing looks much better coming in to Season 2.

Rating 

B

Predicted XI
                      Kara
      Parr Schiavo Özer Mares
Rao Dasar Martins Patel Sung-Chul
                Drakenburg 

Dino Radanović 🇭🇷 18 year old Right Back - Draft Pick #8
Brodie O'Brien 🇦🇺 18 year old Centre Back - Academy Promotion
Cassiano Rodrigues 🇧🇷 26 year old Left Midfielder - Trade from Manhattan FC
Parfait Atangana 🇨🇲 21 year old Striker - Trade from Naija United

Outs 

Corey Robson 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 24 year old Centre Midfielder - Trade to Manhattan FC
Billy Rose 🇦🇺 23 year old Full Back - Trade to Naija United
Lukasz Kuriata 🇵🇱 29 year old Defensive Midfielder - Cut

Review 

Bondi FC have been busy in the close season. Two big trades saw Rodrigues and Atangana join, replacing Robson and Rose. While neither are expected to start in a first choice XI, Atangana in particular will address some particular concerns of a real lack of depth behind Ash Jones. Billy Rose couldn’t force his way into the best back four in the league but Corey Robson played a lot of football in Season 1 and Brazilian, Cassiano Rodrigues will be expected to step up.

Rating 

B

Predicted XI
                      Keegan
     Zozbasic Thomas Bul Mkhize
Augusto Park Pelligrini Harris-Marsh
                   Baker-Jones
                       Jones

Ins 

Tommaso di Paolo 🇮🇹 18 year old Right Back - Draft Pick #11
Devin Reyes 🇺🇸 18 year old Left Midfielder - Academy Promotion
Aiden Reyes 🇺🇸 18 year old Right Winger - Academy Promotion
Corey Robson 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 24 year old Central Midfielder - Trade from Bondi FC

Outs 

Cassiano Rodrigues 🇧🇷 26 year old Left Midfielder - Trade to Bondi FC
Juan Colon 🇵🇷 18 year old Midfielder - Cut
Ivan Bašić 🇭🇷 30 year old Midfielder - Cut

Review 

Manhattan have recruited well. While last year they were criticised for not rotating the squad enough and only having 14 players who played a significant role, they have added two players who will be a big part of the action. Italian Right Back Tommaso di Paolo slipped to #11 in the draft and will get time in that position and Corey Robson, traded in from Bondi will start in midfield alongside Jeison Valoyes. Cassiano Rodrigues departed but only started 4 matches in Season 1.

Rating 

B

Predicted XI
                      Mancinelli
     Edwards Holden Matz Cèzar
                 Valoyes Robson
                      Johnson
           Ramos  Alcantar  Carter 

Ojo Oladipupo 🇳🇬 18 year old Left Winger - Academy Promotion
Nick Amos 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 18 year old Centre Midfielder - Draft Pick #1
Billy Rose 🇦🇺 23 year old Full Back - Trade from Bondi FC
Amadou Sanchez 🇫🇷 25 year old Centre Back - Trade from Paris St. Denis

Outs 

Parfait Atangana 🇨🇲 21 year old Striker - Trade to Bondi FC
Henry Babatunde 🇳🇬 24 year old Winger - Trade to Paris St. Denis
Danijel Lazarević 🇷🇸 18 year old Striker - Cut

Review 

Naija have added what I believe to be the best two 18 year olds in the league. Oladipupo and Amos will start and improve Naija significantly. Billy Rose was a great pick up from Bondi and will provide versatile depth at Full Back. Amadou Sanchez was a starting Centre Back for Paris St Denis in their Championship-winning Season and incredibly will start the season as back-up CB in Nigeria. Naija moved Babatunde and Atangana on and the club will benefit from not having so many bodies trying to squeeze into a constantly changing forward line. The other major issue is that I don’t see a starting spot for Captain Paul Obagbemiro in this Season 2 Naija United side. Interesting to see how Head Coach, Julius Martins approaches this.

Rating 

A*

Predicted XI
                         Fall
     Jung Boli Wellington Akakpo
                 Venditto Amos
       Akande Ogude Oladipupo
                        Chidi 

Pieter Cools 🇳🇱 23 year old Goalkeeper - Trade from South London United
Manny Samillano 🇵🇭 18 year old Midfielder - Draft Pick #9
Jack Gosselin 🇨🇦 18 year old Centre Back - Draft Pick #21
Yudi Abidin 🇮🇩 18 year old Midfielder - Academy Promotion

Outs 

Bernhard Schmid 🇦🇹 27 year old Midfielder - Trade to South London United
Edgars Ozols 🇱🇻 31 year old Goalkeeper - Cut
Mochamad Setiawan 🇮🇩 31 year old Attacking Midfielder - Cut

Review 

Inter Nusantara had an incredible journey in Season 1, losing in a Semi Final, having a striker win the Golden Boot and witnessing the rapid development of a Golden Boy in Segara Biru. The oldest squad in Season 1 just lost two 31 year olds and a 27 year old. Pieter Cools was brought in from South London United who wanted to keep him. He’ll likely replace Kevin Zainal and improve the defence. Inter had to trade away Bernhard Schmid to get him, Schmid started 6 matches, scored 3 and assisted 3, and they will need someone to step up because their other recruits are not ready to impact matches yet.

Rating 

B

Predicted XI
                       Cools
    Dae-Seong  Mahendra  Zé Atunes  Ly
               Capece         Abu Bakar
          Mustafa     Butkus          Biru
                        Holsink 

Renzo Moyano 🇦🇷 18 year old Right Winger/Striker - Academy Promotion
Marcos Peñaranda 🇨🇴 18 year old Midfielder - Draft Pick #3
Tito Ojeda 🇦🇷 18 year old Goalkeeper - Draft Pick #15
Pepe Muniz 🇪🇸 25 year old Winger - Trade from South London United

Outs 

Jean Salazar 🇵🇪 22 year old Right Back - Trade to South London United
Wilmar Chávez 🇨🇴 25 year old Winger - Cut
Edgar Castro 🇪🇨 23 year old Goalkeeper - Cut

Review 

I like Palermo’s off-season business. Renzo Moyano looks incredibly exciting and I think they’ll try a new formation to fit him in. Marcos Peñaranda picked up at #3 in the draft doesn’t look as ready to go as some other high picks but could be great for this team off the bench initially. They traded Jean Salazar who struggled to fit into their system last year and picked up Spaniard Pepe Muniz who seems highly motivated to make the move work, even if he may struggle to fit into a system that doesn’t feature wingers.

Rating 

A

Predicted XI
                      Ortiz
          Zunga Broglia Álvarez
Riveros   Silvestri  Villa   De Los Santos
                       Sabaté
                Moyano Correa 

Jean-Luc Duprat 🇫🇷 18 year old Centre Back - Academy Promotion
Anouar Larboui 🇩🇿 19 year old Full Back - Draft Pick #12
Henry Babatunde 🇳🇬 24 year old Wide Midfielder - Trade from Naija United

Outs 

Amadou Sanchez 🇫🇷 25 year old Centre Back - Trade to Naija United
Cláudio Neves 🇧🇷 26 year old Right Back - Cut

Review 

Academy product Jean-Luc Duprat is so highly rated that they traded a somewhat shocked Amadou Sanchez to Naija United. Henry Babatunde came in and may push Danylo Melnychuk for a position in the fabled front 3 that Paris relied on so heavily in Season 1.

Rating 

A

Predicted XI
                  Herculano
     Dubois Müller Duprat Braaten
            Dosso Barré Balmy
       Babatunde Sang-Min Grava 

Enzo Montiel 🇪🇸 18 year old Centre Back - Draft Pick #2
Zaki Abdo 🇸🇦 18 year old Centre Midfielder - Academy Promotion
Atif Alzahrani 🇸🇦 18 year old Left Midfielder - Academy Promotion
Joost de Groot 🇳🇱 26 year old Midfielder - Trade from FC Angelenos

Outs 

Vasily Malyarov 🇷🇺 22 year old Left Back - Trade to FC Angelenos
Jalal Haghdoust 🇮🇷 18 year old Winger - Cut
Isam Yousif 🇸🇩 27 year old Left Midfielder - Cut

Review 

Enzo Montiel taken with pick #2 in The Draft will help take Riyadh Stars to a new level in Season 2. Narin and Montiel are the envy of the league as a pairing. Their transfer activity including trading Left Back Vasily Malyarov to LA underlined their commitment to a back three and Mbaye and Ashour will battle to be in the starting XI. 

de Groot will bring some much needed depth, but most crucially a year of growth for the youngest starting XI in the league - an average age of 22.6 - will see Riyadh find new levels in Season 2.

Rating 

A

Predicted XI
                Salem
     Mbaye Narin Montiel
                    Ali
    Takas    Akinola   Cerqueira
             Skaik    Aquino
                Al Balushi

Niklas Haas 🇩🇪 18 year old Goalkeeper - Draft Pick #7
Elias Brügger 🇨🇭 18 year old Centre Back - Draft Pick #19
Jaxon Lockwood 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 18 year old Right Midfielder - Academy Promotion
Jean Salazar 🇵🇪 22 year old Right Back - Trade from Club Sportivo Palermo
Bernhard Schmid 🇦🇹 27 year old Midfielder - Trade from Inter Nusantara 

Outs 

Pepe Muniz 🇪🇸 25 year old Winger - Trade to Club Sportivo Palermo
Pieter Cools 🇳🇱 23 year old Goalkeeper - Trade to Inter Nusantara
Martin Greve 🇩🇰 18 year old Left Midfielder - Cut
Isaac Diez 🇪🇸 33 year old Right Back - Retired

Review 

Clearly the busiest team in the off season but possibly more by necessity than anything else. Isaac Diez played a lot of football in Season 1 and his retirement should be nicely offset by the addition of Jean Salazar from Palermo. Pieter Cools didn’t come out of Fodé Diaby’s shadow in Season 1 and his loss to Nusantara will only be felt if Diaby loses form or fitness. Bernhard Schmid will provide more of an alternative that Pepe Muniz did previously. 

London fans will need to be patient with young recruits Haas, Lockwood and Brügger who won’t play much football in the coming months.

Rating 

C

Predicted XI
                 Diaby
     Salazar  Eke Prasad Noor
         Alcock Ezeh Sÿkora
                 Grondin
              Bird     Sinclair

Ichiro Oba 🇯🇵 18 year old Midfielder - Academy Promotion
Park Ju-Hwan 🇰🇷 19 year old Wide Midfielder - Draft Pick #10
Ólafur Birgisson 🇮🇸 18 year old Centre Back - Draft Pick #22

Outs 

Semih Guvenc 🇹🇷 25 year old Right Midfielder - Cut 
Gabriel Angulo 🇪🇨 28 year old Centre Back - Cut 

Fresh out of the Tokyo Youth Club Academy, Ichiro Oba is ready to make a big impact in a team that feels stronger in Season 2, despite falling only very slightly short of a place in the Season 1 Final. Otherwise Tokyo haven’t lost much and the two young players they added from The Draft won’t be relied upon in the first half of the season.

Rating 

B

Predicted XI
             Tsz Chun
Petrone Suzuki Sasaki Young
   Bastos Kato Oba Tanaka
            Bunmi Hauffe