Biggest World Cup risers and fallers: Folarin Balogun, Vozinha and 10 more who helped or hurt transfer stock

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Biggest World Cup risers and fallers: Folarin Balogun, Vozinha and 10 more who helped or hurt transfer stock originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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As the dust settles on the biggest World Cup of all time, Spain can get on with the business of celebrating a richly deserved triumph.

A battling 1-0 win in extra time of an ugly final against Argentina was not the finale a brilliant tournament deserved.

Over the course of 104 games, plenty of players enhanced their reputations, while others will now retreat to lick their wounds, and all in the context of soccer's summer transfer market cranking up.

The players listed below will be on wishlists in Europe and beyond. Plenty of them will not move, but this is an assessment of how their stock has risen or fallen during the World Cup.

WORLD CUP FINAL HQ: Spain vs. Argentina highlights | Halftime show | Player ratings

Biggest stock rises during 2026 World Cup

Rodri

It's been a tough couple of years for the 2024 Ballon d'Or winner, who ruptured his ACL in September that year. It was a long road back for Rodri and, although he hit his best level at times on Manchester City's run to England's domestic cup double last season, the consistency of old eluded him.

At the World Cup, Rodri was Spain's imperious driving force from midfield, winning the Golden Ball despite not contributing a single goal or assist. In reality, he contributes to much more, setting the terms in every game for the best international team in the world to dominate.

The 30-year-old is out of contract next June. There is an offer on the table from City but he has been non-commital on his future, while the club understandably did not want to guarantee huge money to a player yet to fully show he was over a serious injury. Now, Golden Ball in hand, Rodri can probably name his price. Or, a year from now, he follows the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Trent Alexander-Arnold by running his contract down to join Real Madrid as a World Cup-winning captain.

Ferran Torres

Ferran Torres did not have anything like the influence Rodri did upon Spain's triumph, but he is now one of a select number of men to have scored the winning goal in a World Cup final. That's good currency for a player whose club future is slightly up in the air.

His deal at Barcelona expires in June 2027 and Paris Saint-Germain are reportedly interested, effectively seeing him as a replacement for the outgoing Goncalo Ramos as their central attacking cover. At the same time, Barca might really rather he sticks around in light of Robert Lewandowski's departure. A man in demand just strengthened his hand by living out every young soccer fan's dream.

Erling Haaland

Unlike the men above, Haaland is on a monster contract, having signed a nine-and-a-half-year extension at Manchester City in January 2025. But the superstar forward has remained on the radar of Real Madrid and Barcelona.

It's hard to see any financially viable way for those deals to happen in the immediate future, but Haaland demands a place on this list after a seven-goal tournament where he won the hearts and minds of the soccer public in the United States and beyond. He looks on course to become the most valuable commodity in the sport.

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Folarin Balogun

The United States' star striker become the unfortunate focus of pre-match attention ahead of the Round of 16 showdown with Belgium when President Donald Trump claimed he made a call to FIFA that helped to suspend his ban for a red card in the previous round against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Prior to that, Balogun was the success story of the co-hosts' blistering start to the tournament. That came on the back of a fine season in Ligue 1 with Monaco. Premier League clubs Tottenham Hotspur and Europa League-bound Sunderland have been credited with an interest in the former Arsenal youngster.

Ayyoub Bouaddi

Morocco's 18-year-old organising midfielder showed maturity way beyond his years as he dominated the opening stages of his country's 1-1 draw against Brazil.

Bouaddi never quite hit those heights again on the Atlas Lions' solid run to the quarterfinals, but he is a footballer of evidently rare gifts. Manchester City, among others, are seemingly tempted to cough up Lille's €100 million asking price before one of the best teenagers on the planet goes nuclear.

Vozinha

Vozinha stole the hearts of soccer fans everywhere with his incredible performances between the posts for tournament debutants Cape Verde. As a 40-year-old veteran who was let go by a second-tier Portuguese club at the end of last season, he now probably has prospects for a final career payday beyond his wildest dreams. A reunion with Round of 32 opponent Lionel Messi at Inter Miami has been mooted.

Biggest stock falls during 2026 World Cup

Julian Alvarez

Alvarez has endured a curious summer. He was heavily linked to Barcelona, and Real Madrid tabled a huge transfer offer for him. Atletico Madrid publicly and bombastically batted back both of their La Liga rivals before the Argentina forward headed to the tournament.

He started among the substitutes, recovering from injury. Once Alvarez returned to the first XI to reprise his breakout partnership with Messi from the 2022 tournament, he failed to scale those heights. The exception was his blistering extra-time strike to down Switzerland, but Alvarez was then absent as an influential presence across the semifinals and finals. For a forward whose club is demanding top dollar to even consider a move, it felt fair to expect better.

Enzo Fernandez

After huge knockout-stage goals against Egypt and England, Fernandez could feasibly have put himself in the other half of this list amid speculation over his future.

However, he was trusted as the main deep-lying midfielder against Spain in the final and — ironically, given Argentina's post-match antics — he could not handle them. Enzo resorted to petulance and, after a yellow card for dissent, he was sent off for a late challenge on Pau Cubarsi.

It's easy to forget that Fernandez still has his best years ahead of him at 25. There is space for him to grow up emotionally, too. But Real Madrid took the unusual step of publicly distancing themselves from a move for the former River Plate favourite prior to the tournament. It is not hard to imagine other elite clubs sharing the sentiment.

Imagn Images

Bruno Guimaraes

It's not a novel thing for Guimaraes to be linked with a move away from Newcastle United. The Magpies captain has been a standout player in a fine era under Eddie Howe that ran inro trouble last season. But Newcastle have sold fellow midfielder Sandro Tonali to Tottenham and, as such, would be in a position to drive a hard bargain when it comes to Bruno.

As a result, he probably needed better performances than he managed in Brazil's worst World Cup showing since 1990. That's not to say Guimaraes played particularly badly, but he was hamstrung by Carlo Ancelotti's 4-2-4 set-up, which culminated in the Brazil midfield being outplayed by Norway before Haaland administered the final blow.

Marcus Rashford

Rashford would have been forgiven for feeling a little deja vu as the World Cup wore on. After scoring in England's opening win over Croatia, he started the wins over Panama and DR Congo. In the latter game, he was substituted at 1-0 down, and his replacement Anthony Gordon got both assists as Harry Kane hit a brilliant late double.

That's the same Anthony Gordon who joined Barcelona from Newcastle after Rashford's year on loan failed to persuade the Blaugrana to pay Manchester United's £40m asking price. Rashford is a player of rare gifts, but he might have to downsize his expectations if he is to kickstart his club career.

Aurelien Tchouameni

Tchouameni is one of several Real Madrid players whose future came to feel uncertain as last season unravelled. Manchester United are thought to be among his admirers as they undergo a midfield refit, although the latest speculation suggests they have moved on to other targets.

The France international did not come cheap, and a tournament where he struggled for form and fitness before being subjected to death by 1,000 passes against Spain did his reputation as an elite-tier midfield operator few favours. 

Omar Marmoush

As the Unelite-tiers fell in love with Haaland, Marmoush would have been forgiven for looking on ruefully. Haaland's relentless goalscoring at Manchester City has left Marmoush with one of the most unforgiving second-fiddle roles in club soccer, and he has failed to nail down any of the support-attacker roles at the Etihad Stadium.

The former Eintracht Frankfurt star is still not short of admirers but he would not come cheap. In that context, his World Cup was a bit of nightmare as he failed to score, lost his starting space with Egypt and then botched a huge counter-attacking opportunity when the Pharaohs were 2-1 up in their eventual 3-2 defeat to Argentina.

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