[NoSkillz]

July 2028- Transfer Window


Transfers OUT

MR - Sergio De la Vega - Barcelona - £24,000,000
MR - Gianluca Bolis - Fiorentina - £10,500,000
ST - Chiquinho - Mallorca - £9,500,000
MC - Juan Jose Culebras - Porto - £7,000,000
MR - Nene - Manchester City - £6,500,000
DC - Luis Miguel Garcia - Newcastle - £4,700,000
DL - Dean France - Tottenham - £3,800,000
GK - Philippe Jung - Cordoba - £1,300,000
DC - Francisco Lopez - Cordoba - Free

Some huge names move out as we continue restructuring our squad with the aim of getting younger.

Barcelona came calling for world-class winger Sergio De la Vega and after buying him from Pachuca in July 2025 for only £7 million, we found it impossible not to take the £24 million from the Spanish giant only three years later. We hoped that De la Vega would push incumbent Gianluca Bolis for playing time and while he did, his production never was as prolific as expected. In all, he made 111 appearances for Dover (87 starts) in three years, scoring 14 goals and adding 29 assists. We wish Sergio well but are delighted with the huge profit we made on this sale.

We also bid adieu to long-time right winger Gianluca Bolis, who moves to Italian side Fiorentina in a £10,500,000 deal. Bolis played 9 years with our team and while his talent was undeniable, he always left us wanting a bit more, especially after his first couple of productive years with our club. Bolis originally arrived from Manchester City in 2019-20 for the bargain fee of £4,000,000 and for a few seasons was one of our best players. His best season was definitely 2021-22, when he scored a whopping 16 goals and added 13 assists, remarkable numbers from the midfield. However, he’d battle inconsistency in later years and I was always looking for a replacement. That said, he’d always somehow do JUST enough to ward off his competition. Still, I’m looking for more and at 29 years of age, his best is definitely behind him so we move on. In all, he started 322 times and made 30 appearances as a substitute in his 9 seasons, an amazing 352 total appearances! He scored 70 goals and added 71 assists in that time. Thank you to Gianluca for serving Dover so well for 9 seasons and we wish him the best going forward with Fiorentina.

Inarguably, the biggest name moving out is the remarkable Chiquinho, one of the greatest strikers in football history, as he moves to Mallorca in a bargain £9.5 million transfer. Chiquinho arrived at Dover in July 2022 after seven ridiculously productive years in Belgium with Anderlecht and immediately became the face of our franchise, scoring goals at will and providing durability the likes we haven’t seen in this sport. In fact, in 14 full seasons, he’s only suffered FOUR TOTAL injuries, with none of them lasting longer than three weeks! Despite his advancing age, his consistency never wavered and he continually provided goals, assists and leadership with our squad, serving as captain during his last year at Dover. In all, he spent six seasons at Dover, appearing in 277 games (266 starts), scoring an incredible 164 goals and adding 76 assists for 240 total points!! He’s now 32 years old, was entering his last year under contract and was demanding double his current salary for only a one year extension, terms I was just not able to meet. It’s a sad day in Dover history and our supporters are NOT happy with me! We wish Chiquinho the best as he moves to Spain for the remainder of his career.

The rest of the names are younger prospects that we moved out to give them chances at first team football. Juan Jose Culebras joined our club in 2025 from Villarreal for £6 million and spent one year with our U18 squad and also had a couple of loan stints while here. He showed some great promise with our senior squad in 2026-27, scoring one goal and adding 5 assists in 13 appearances but in the end, we had some bigger prospects and felt that making a modest profit in a £7 million sale to Porto was justified. In all, Culebras 17 total appearances with the senior squad (5 starts), and scored the one goal and added 5 assists.

Nene was a middling prospect that we picked up from Gremio for £1.5 million and Manchester City paid a huge premium for his services. He spent his one year on our U18 squad and never made a first-team appearance for Dover.

We also make a significant profit on DC Luis Miguel Garcia, getting £4.7 million for him from Newcastle after spending a paltry £70K for him from Tigres in July 2025. Garcia was a decent prospect but only made one substitute appearance with our first-team during his three years at Dover, spending two full years out on loan to St. Gallen and Young Boys.

Like Nene, fullback Dean France was only here for one season, spent entirely with our U18 squad and we were able to get a whopping £3.8 million for him from Spurs after buying him for only £1 million from Watford.

Fourth string GK Philippe Jung came to Dover on a free from Toulouse FC in French Ligue 2 in 2025 and spent his first year on our U18 club, getting one senior team start in our last match of the season, where he allowed four goals. He’d spend two years at Derby on loan and I feel lucky to have received £1.3 million for his services from Cordoba in Spain.

Lastly, we move out DC Francisco Lopez to Cordoba as well, on a free transfer. He spent three years with our club, making one scoreless senior team start while spending most of his time here with our youth squad.


LOAN OUT


ST - Josh Fairclough - Blackpool - £550,000
MC - Borja - Aston Villa - £450,000
ST - Marcus Sowter - Leeds - £210,000
DC - Andrew Hunter - QPR - £110,000
DC - Marc Berghuis - Newcastle - Free
DC - Emmanuel Gonzalez - Udinese - Free
DR - Gary Richards - Stoke - Free
DC - Aythami - Stuttgart - Free

We have some key prospects here moving out to gain some first-team experience, the most notable of whom are Fairclough, Borja, Sowter and Richards.


RELEASED PLAYERS


GK - Massimo La Vecchia
DL - Chris Kennedy
DR - Chris Cross
ML - Zoltan Toth
MC - Jan Sloncik
MR - Dale Swan
ST - Danny Kitson

Not much to see here, as most of these players were just U18 contributors that weren’t ready to contribute at the next level. We wish them all the best.