Did you enjoy this summer’s World Cup? Are you curious about the soccer world beyond that tournament? Welcome to The Athletic’s Soccer Weekender. All fans are welcome, as we’ll be tackling the big topics from every weekend of action, and the funniest moments, weird histories, meaningful stories you may have missed and more. Today: We unpack how transfers can become a soap opera, one of the biggest transfer “misses” in recent memory and highlight the best of our Messi and Haaland reads.“I have a dumb question,” reads the Slack message from a sharp NBA reporter who will remain unnamed to protect all who ask dumb brave questions.“It won’t be dumb, my man. Hit me,” replies a soccer columnist.“The transfer fee for Bradley Barcola to Liverpool is 100 million,” the NBA guy writes. “That just goes to the club, right? We’re not even talking his salary? I’ve been too embarrassed to ask.”Embarrassed or not, he is, in essence, correct! (No dumb questions, etc.)Every year, European soccer clubs spend hundreds of millions of dollars in a last-minute frenzy. Why? Because we’re very near to transfer deadline day.This pocket of time in Europe makes U.S. sports trades look sleepy. Practically rustic.And yes, when you see a “£[BIG NUMBER] MILLION” headline in European soccer transfer news? It’s all just a fee for doing business. The players negotiate their wages with their new club totally separately from that — and they might get a cut depending on their contract at the team they’re moving from or to, while agents often take a percentage. But the majority of that number is just team to team.In U.S. sports, trade headlines are about how much money a player just cashed in on. Trades mean that teams are making a swap: For players, money, draft picks, etc. And these trades can happen during most of the season and preseason up until the trade deadline. Sometimes a blockbuster trade does happen on deadline day, sparking hysterical meltdowns on X.com, but typically most of the big ones have already been inked.Cody Gakpo could be one of the bigger movers on deadline day (George Wood/Getty Images)The big day for leagues like the NFL and NBA is draft day, when the worst teams in the league get to select the best incoming talent. (Because in a meritocracy like America, it just makes sense to award the teams that failed… wait…)Unlike U.S. sports, overseas football/soccer teams can only buy players during two official “transfer windows,” one in the summer, and a frantic fix-it window in January.And transfers are Built Different. Forget everything you know about American trades; here are the transfer window basics you might be wondering…