The gladiator fight that is the World Cup is a sort of proving ground for players looking to make that next leap in their career. The crowd of 1.1 billion that turns its eyes to the coliseum of this sport ensures the pressure is on. No matter how astute and advanced scouting is and has become these days, a player who rises in the moment can flourish in the riches of the transfer market—especially one that’s just weeks away from taking center stage. Even one who has failed to truly stand out at the club level—or one that simply doesn’t play for a club that garners much global attention—can elevate his profile with the whole world watching.
With the 2022 World Cup down to its final four teams and matches, here’s a look at some of the breakout performers in Qatar whose stock has risen just in time for the winter transfer window, which opens for the top leagues across Europe at the start of the new year.
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Yassine Bounou, goalkeeper, Morocco
Nobody has announced himself on this stage—and endeared himself to fans—quite like the smiley, Montreal-born Moroccan goalkeeper. The player known as “Bono” has been very good for Sevilla for several years, but his heroics for the Atlas Lions over the last few weeks have reportedly made him a target for teams from the Premier League’s Wolves to Spanish giant Real Madrid.
Bounou made some crucial saves against Spain in the last 16 before stopping two penalties to win his side the decisive shootout. He followed that with a masterly game against Portugal in which he made multiple outstanding saves to keep yet another clean sheet. Morocco still has yet to allow an opponent to score in this World Cup—the one goal conceded was an own goal to Canada—en route to becoming the first African nation to reach the World Cup semifinals. Much of that is due to Bounou’s confident and technically superb goalkeeping.
Yes, he’s already 31, but he has six years of experience in La Liga and, now, has proved himself in some of the most high-pressure moments the sport has to offer.
Dominik Livaković, goalkeeper, Croatia
The other semifinal features another goalkeeper whose brave performances have shined in Qatar. Croatia has shown that it’s content with drawing games out past 90 minutes and sending things to penalties. That doesn’t work without confidence in your last line of defense. Livaković has risen to the occasion time and time again.
Against Belgium in the group stage, he held a clean sheet against 3.07 expected goals (xG). Then he, too, was the hero of two penalty shootouts. He saved three of the first four spot kicks to beat Japan, and against titan Brazil, far and away the favorite to win the competition, Livaković made an astounding 11 saves before saving a penalty in the shootout that proved to make the difference in Croatia’s shocking semifinal run.
The 27-year-old has been excellent for Dinamo Zagreb for years. His calm demeanor on the global stage could make him a target for an upgrade at the club level.
Pervis Estupiñán, left back, Ecuador
It almost felt tragic that Ecuador didn’t reach the knockout stage. Forward Enner Valencia showed his timeless class with a strong goalscoring showing, and Estupiñan put on a display of both attacking and defensive prowess from the left side.
The 24-year-old Brighton player just completed a move to his new Premier League side, so he likely won’t be on the transfer window radar in January. But he made his name as one of the better do-it-all fullbacks in the Premier League with his performance in Qatar.
In a game against the Netherlands that La Tri really should’ve won, Estupiñán recorded the most shot-creating actions of any player (six). He also won possession more times than anyone else on the pitch, per Squawka. His technical ability both on and off the ball is at a high level for a fullback. Should he continue to develop the final product, he should be a dangerous player in the Premier League.
Joško Gvardiol, center back, Croatia
It wasn’t Son Heung-min that ended up the most prominent masked hero in Qatar. The RB Leipzig player has been on the radar of many of Europe’s top clubs for a while now. Gvardiol’s play at the World Cup will have teams lining up to try to poach him from the German Bundesliga.
If midfielder Luka Modrić is the linchpin of Croatia’s cautious-but-clinical style of play, Gvardiol is the failsafe. He’s aggressive, pacy, physically imposing and relatively comfortable on the ball. His brave blocking and physical play against the boundless talent of the Brazil forward line was critical in Vatreni’s penalty-shootout victory. Oh, and he’s doing all this at 20 years old.
Leipzig was certain to make a hefty profit for the defender for whom they paid just under $20 million in 2021, particularly if he’s able to lift Croatia to a shocking World Cup title.
Josip Juranović, right back, Croatia
For as brilliant as Gvardiol was in shutting down Brazil, Juranović was the standout performer from that back line. Tasked with slowing down Real Madrid star Vinícius Júnior, the Croatian right back limited his impact on the match while still being a threat of his own going forward—no player equaled his seven shot-creating actions. But it was his 120 minutes of defensive effort in which he hardly put a foot wrong that should skyrocket his value in the upcoming transfer window.
The 27-year-old is playing the best soccer of his career after a move a year ago to Celtic. Last year’s Scottish Premiership champions will surely demand a pretty penny after he proved himself against some of the world’s best players in Qatar.
Sofyan Amrabat, midfielder, Morocco
There’s a common theme among the two surprise semifinalists, besides the stout goalkeeping: a technically gifted midfield that just doesn’t stop running. Amrabat is that player and more for the Atlas Lions.
Morocco’s arrival as the ultimate World Cup dark horse came in its 2–0 win over groupmate Belgium, where Amrabat helped stifle the Red Devils in the midfield. But the 26-year-old’s crowning achievement came in the last 16 vs. Spain. Amrabat went toe to toe with a Spanish midfield that had run circles over its competition to that point and stuffed any hopes of scoring. It was his play providing cover for the back line that made it so difficult for La Furia Roja to create any clear-cut chances. Then in the quarterfinals, Amrabat was again everywhere in Morocco’s stunning win over Portugal. No outfield player has made more ball recoveries in Qatar, per Opta.
He plies his trade at Italian side Fiorentina, but bigger clubs should come calling soon after he put on one of the finest midfield displays of anyone in this tournament.
Jude Bellingham, midfielder, England
England fell short at a major tournament once again, but it wasn’t due to the play of its dynamite young midfielder. Bellingham has been on the rise for some time now, so his performance in Qatar wasn’t exactly a breakout. But he showed his class as the future of the English midfield.
Bellingham is already drawing comparisons to some of the English's all-time greats with his preternatural feel for the game at such a young age. He finds himself at the center of what the Three Lions are trying to do in every phase, whether it’s tracking back to help double-team tricky wingers, kick-starting a counterattack or making a late run into the box to fire home off a cross.
At just 19, a move home to one of the Premier League’s richest clubs from German side Borussia Dortmund seems likely.
Enzo Fernández, midfielder, Argentina
Lionel Messi’s last dance is the engine of Argentina’s World Cup run, but Fernández’s play has added its own fuel. Having just recently earned a move to Portuguese side Benfica, the 21-year-old Fernández has had a meteoric rise anchoring the midfield with club and country.
The central midfield spot was something of a question mark for La Albiceleste heading into Qatar. Fernández has answered the bell and then some. He came on as a substitute vs. Mexico and changed the game with his forward thinking—and worldie of a goal to extend Argentina’s lead to 2–0. He’s played all but 10 minutes of the next three matches.
He’s exactly what Argentina needed without Giovani Lo Celso: brave going forward, defensively disruptive and able to control the tempo of a match. He’s already been linked with most of Europe’s top clubs after his performance thus far.
Cody Gakpo, forward, Netherlands
Gakpo’s star fizzled a bit after the group stage, but all it took was a few big goals for his breakout to be underway.
The 23-year-old opened things with a header that gave the Dutch an 84th-minute breakthrough vs. Senegal. He then opened the scoring with a peach of an effort from outside the 18-yard box against Ecuador.
He struck once more against Qatar to enter his name into the hat for the tournament’s Golden Boot. But while he helped relieve pressure several times in the Oranje’s clinical counterattacking performance against the U.S., Gakpo went mostly quiet in the loss to Argentina.
That said, any team could use a player with the knack for finding the back of the net like the PSV forward, who had previously been linked with a move to Manchester United before the World Cup. His goalscoring display in Qatar should further bump up the stock—and price—of a player who was already in relatively high demand.
Gonçalo Ramos, forward, Portugal
Talk about taking advantage of the moment. Ramos was inserted into the Portugal lineup in place of Cristiano Ronaldo in the last 16 clash with Switzerland and put together a historic performance. The Benfica man netted a hat trick and an assist in his first World Cup appearance to power his side to the quarterfinals. While he fell a little flat in the ensuing loss to Morocco, the 90 minutes of excellence was enough to put international soccer on notice.
Ramos was already having a scorching start to the club season with a Primeira Liga-leading nine goals in 11 appearances. His versatility as an attacker and killer finishing touch that was on display in Qatar will make him a coveted player going forward.
