Messi, Alaba, Wijnaldum: Star-studded potential free agents ahead of transfer window

2020 draws to a close in the coming days, and not a moment too soon! With 2021 right around the corner, it presents players whose contracts expire next summer to negotiate pre-contracts with teams across Europe. Serie A trio Hakan Calhanoglu, Gianluigi Donnarumma and Henrikh Mkhitaryan will all enter the final six months of their respective deals in the New Year, but are expected to pen extensions before too long, so the three players miss out on this selection. 

Here we run through six players who will be free to speak with teams in the coming days and there are some big name stars who make the cut! 

Lionel Messi - Barcelona 

What better place to start than the Barcelona superstar. The LaLiga powerhouse managed to keep Lionel Messi at Camp Nou earlier in the year, but they are powerless to let him leave at the end of the season. Manchester City were the frontrunners for the Argentine attacker, who despite turning 33 back in June, is still impressing. Indeed, Messi's WhoScored rating of 8.19 is better than any other player in Europe's top five leagues in 2020/21. 

City are expected to rekindle their interest in Messi, but are likely to face competition from Parisian powerhouse PSG for his signature. Either way, it's expected that one of football's greatest ever players will move on for free with a pre-contract expected to be signed with another club before too long. 

Julian Draxler - PSG 

The impending appointment of Mauricio Pochettino could change matters at PSG, but Julian Draxler may elect against biding his time to see how his future in France pans out and choose to depart the Parc des Princes. Draxler has never really been considered a first team regular for the Ligue 1 side, in part due to the competition he has faced with PSG, while injury issues have played a role in restricting the midfielder to a maximum 22 league starts in a single season 

PSG may even elect to cash in on Draxler in January rather than wait for his deal to run next summer, in what would surely be a boost for the Germany international, who'd no doubt favour regular game time ahead of next summer's European Championship. Despite registering just 432 minutes of league action, the 27-year-old still has two goals and one assist to his name and for a player coming into his prime years, he could prove a shrewd addition on a free. 

Memphis Depay - Lyon 

Remaining with Ligue 1, this time turning our attention to Lyon, Memphis Depay's current deal runs until next summer, with the French outfit keen to extend his stay at Parc OL. The Dutchman was wanted by Barcelona last summer as Ronald Koeman sought to link up with his compatriot at club level. Prolonged negotiations between the Blaugrana and Lyon failed to bear fruit and Depay remained in France. 

Soon, though, Lyon will be powerless to stop one of their key men from departing for pastures new. Only Karl Toko Ekambi (9) has scored more league goals than the Dutchman (8) of Lyon players this season, while nobody for OL has provided more assists than the versatile attacker (4). A WhoScored rating of 7.37 ranks second for the French side and while Barcelona are rumoured to have cooled their interest in Depay, there are a number of sides across the continent who'd welcome the chance to land the 26-year-old. 

Florian Thauvin - Marseille 

Moving from Lyon to Marseille now and Florian Thauvin is another up for grabs in the coming days. Marseille are desperate to tie the winger down to a new contract, but, at the time of writing, nothing has come to pass. It's understandable that the Ligue 1 side are keen to keep Thauvin at the Velodrome. While the Frenchman missed all but 20 minutes of the 2019/20 campaign owing to a knee issue, the 27-year-old has six goals and six assists to his name this term, a fine return for a Marseille side that has scored just 22 league goals. 

Thauvin endured a miserable six months with Newcastle back in 2015 before returning to France in January 2016, so while he has never really tested his quality outside of Ligue 1, that may now change in the coming months. The move to England evidently came too soon for the France international, but he has matured in the south of France and a second chance in the Premier League could be what winger needs as he approaches the peak of his career. 

David Alaba - Bayern Munich 

There is a lengthy list of admirers in David Alaba and for good reason. The Austrian is one of the most accomplished defenders in Europe and, available to sign a pre-agreement from January 1st, a host of elite sides have shown an interest in the 28-year-old. Bayern have tried and seemingly failed to convince Alaba to remain in Bavaria and it's likely the defender's career in Germany will come to an end in 2021. 

Comfortable at both centre-back and left-back, Alaba's versatility has propelled him into the spotlight. His distribution helps Bayern tick over and allows the German side to dominate opponents with his 72.6 passes per 90 one of the better returns in the Bundesliga in 2020/21. Any side looking to add an experienced defender approaching their peak to the ranks should look at landing Alaba without a second's hesitation. 

Georginio Wijnaldum - Liverpool 

One of the more underrated stars in the Liverpool setup, Georginio Wijnaldum has been a key man for the Reds, and is highly thought of by head coach Jurgen Klopp, so much so that only Andrew Robertson (1350) has registered more minutes of Premier League action than the midfielder (1240) of all Liverpool players this season. That may have been down to the club's ongoing injury crisis, but Wijnaldum has been an unheralded star in Liverpool's rise back to the top of the Premier League. 

The 30-year-old, like Memphis Depay, was heavily linked with a move to Barcelona last summer, only for the transfer to fall through and Wijnaldum remained at Anfield as a result. Liverpool supposedly have an offer on the table for the Netherlands international and while Wijnaldum hasn't rejected the new deal, he is instead waiting to see what other offers come in for his services. Having been a first team regular for the Reds following his 2016 arrival, any exit would be a blow for Liverpool this despite the abundance of midfielders on the club's books.