Real Madrid got busier this summer than almost anyone. Bernardo Silva and Denzel Dumfries both arrived at the Bernabéu, giving Carlo Ancelotti — or whoever is in the dugout — two players who have featured in Ballon d'Or voting in recent years. That's one way to read the 2026 transfer window. Another is that European football just shipped several of its most decorated names to MLS.
The Ballon d'Or has confirmed seven of its past nominees changed clubs before the 2026/27 campaign kicks off. The list runs from a nine-time nominee ending his career in Chicago to a left-back who won a treble and a European Championship trading Leverkusen for Madrid. They are not all the same story.
The MLS contingent
Robert Lewandowski is done in Europe. After leaving Barcelona as a free agent, the Polish striker joins Chicago Fire — a club that could use his name as much as his goals, given where they've sat in the Eastern Conference standings. Nine Ballon d'Or nominations, a second-place finish in 2021, and the 2022 Gerd Müller Trophy for top scorer. He gave everything to European football. Now he's heading somewhere the defensive lines are a little more forgiving.
Antoine Griezmann follows a similar path to Orlando City. Five nominations, two third-place finishes in 2016 and 2018, and the kind of creative output Atlético Madrid relied on for years. His departure weakens Diego Simeone's options — though at this point in Griezmann's career, it was clearly coming. Orlando get a player who can still pick a pass. The question is whether he still presses like he used to.
Casemiro completes the MLS trio, joining Inter Miami after Manchester United finally parted ways. His first and only Ballon d'Or nomination came in 2022 — 17th place, which accurately reflected where he was in the game at that point. Playing alongside Messi will generate headlines. Whether it generates results for Miami depends on how much his legs have left.
The moves that reshape European title races
Bernardo Silva's arrival at Real Madrid is the transfer with the most competitive weight. Nine years at City, three Ballon d'Or nominations, and back-to-back top-ten finishes in 2019 and 2023. He's a free transfer who can play through the middle or wide, press for ninety minutes, and deliver in knockout football. City lose a player they never fully replaced even when he was there. Madrid's already-formidable depth just got deeper, and that has implications for Champions League markets heading into next season.
Dumfries joins him at the Bernabéu after leaving Inter Milan. His first nomination came in 2025, finishing 25th — modest, but it signals the level he's been operating at. Madrid needed cover and competition at right back. They've addressed it.
- Alejandro Grimaldo — Bayer Leverkusen to Atlético Madrid. The left-back who was central to Leverkusen's unbeaten title season and Spain's Euro win is now back in La Liga, replacing what Griezmann leaves behind in terms of squad profile. Atlético's defensive structure just got more interesting — and their odds to challenge for the title deserve a second look.
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang — Marseille to Deportivo La Coruña. Three Ballon d'Or nominations, highest finish 11th in 2016 when he was terrorising Bundesliga defences at Dortmund. He is 37. Deportivo are in the Spanish second tier. This is a farewell lap dressed up as a transfer.
The Ballon d'Or's list of club-switching nominees covers every phase of a footballer's career — Silva and Grimaldo still in their prime and moving upward, Lewandowski and Aubameyang on the other end of it entirely. For the award itself, none of this changes the voting. For the 2026/27 season, the arrivals at Real Madrid just made them harder to beat.
