Which are the top transfers which will spice up the new season in the #CLW?
Feature
The start of the new season of the CEV Champions League Women is just around the corner, with the 20 teams which earned their tickets to the 4th round already preparing for the throw off, which will take place on 5 November, when Neptunes Nantes face Vasas Óbuda Budapest.
Of course, all teams are aiming for the top, but only one can be crowned the champion at the end of the season, therefore the battle will still be tough, with the top sides over the past seasons returning even stronger.
Like in the previous seasons, the transfer market has been set alight be several clubs, with some of them going the extra mile to try and secure the coveted trophy. Once again, the main actors were on the big stage, with the title holders, A. Carraro Imoco Conegliano, hitting the jackpot with two big moves.
But powerhouses did not stay on their toes and hit back themselves, as they try to dethrone the Italian powerhouse. Let’s take a look and see which were the best transfers in the past summer.
Gabi Guimaraes (VakifBank Istanbul to A. Carraro Imoco Conegliano)
A. Carraro Imoco Conegliano hit the jackpot by signing Gabi Guimaraes, the MVP of the 2021/22 season, a two-time champion with VakifBank Istanbul. The Brazilian superstar spent five years at the Turkish side and at 30 years old, she still has everything going for her.
A bronze medalist at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Gabi Guimaraes is the prototype of the modern outside spiker, who will instantly make an impressive impact to an already star-studded line-up, which seriously looks like a cheat code. While VakifBank lost a star, Conegliano completed an impressive puzzle, with Gabi Guimaraes really creating a fantastic rotation for the Italian side.
Brenda Castillo (Numia Vero Volley Milano to Savino del Bene Scandicci)
Brenda Castillo is now 32 years old and has been used to change teams, having played for eight teams in the past 10 years. She was back in Europe in 2021, featuring two seasons for Savino del Bene Scandicci, before signing a one-year contract with Numia Vero Volley Milano, where she qualified for the last act of the CEV Champions League Women last season, lost against Conegliano.
Castillo is one of the top – if not the top – liberos in the world and returned to Scandicci this summer, where she has some unfinished business. The Italian side crashed out of the European premium competition in the quarter-finals last season and Castillo might just be the missing piece needed to deliver even a better outing, having been eliminated in the quarter-finals in each of the four seasons they featured in the European premium competition
Anna Danesi (Igor Gorgonzola Novara to Numia Vero Volley Milano)
Danesi has been twice a runner-up in the CEV Champions League Women with Conegliano in 2017 and 2019, before she moved to Monza, where she spent three seasons, before signing for Igor Gorgonzola Novara in 2022. Two years spent in Novara flew by and now Danesi returns to the European premium competition, continuing her career at Numia Vero Volley Milano.
Numia Vero Volley Milano have just added the All-Star middle blocker at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where Danesi helped Italy secure the gold medal and the Olympic title, as well as one of the most experienced players on this position in the CEV Champions League Women, and a natural born winner, having already secured the CEV Cup Women and the CEV Challenge Cup Women in the past four seasons with Monza and Novara respectively.
Zhu Ting (Savino del Bene Scandicci to A. Carraro Imoco Conegliano)
Gabi Guimaraes was not the only premium transfer for A. Carraro Imoco Conegliano, with the Italian side also signing another otherworldly outside hitter in Zhu Ting, an Olympic champion and a former MVP of the European premium competition in the 2016/17 season, when she secured the title with VakifBank Istanbul.
Ting returned to Europe in 2022, when she played two seasons for Savino del Bene Scandicci, and now will become the first Chinese player in Conegliano’s history, aiming to get back to her top, as well as securing her third trophy in the CEV Champions League Women, after the ones clinched with VakifBank in 2017 and 2018.
Agnieszka Korneluk (Chemik Police to Developres Rzeszów)
The 30-year-old middle blocker brings plenty of experience and adds a fantastic layer of competitiveness to Developres Rzeszów. The Polish side has progressed from the pool three seasons in a row, but never got into the semi-finals, being eliminated twice in the quarter-finals and once in the play-offs.
Korneluk, the best middle blocker in the FIVB Women’s Nations League in 2024, will return to the European premium competition after a one-year hiatus, joining Rzeszów, being a key addition to a side which has ambition and wants to go the extra mile this season in their pursuit for greatness.
Caterina Bosetti (Igor Gorgonzola Novara -> VakifBank Istanbul)
The six-time champions needed to bounce back after being left emptyhanded last season, when they were eliminated in the quarter-finals. Moreover, they have lost a huge star in Gabi Guimaraes and bounced back by signing Caterina Bosetti, an Olympic champion with Italy at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Bosetti spent the last four seasons at Igor Gorgonzola Novara, winning the CEV Challenge Cup Women last season, and will return to Turkiye after 10 years, when she spent one season for Galatasaray. She joins Chinese middle blocker Yuan Xinyue at VakifBank, which will aim to challenge once again for the trophy this season.
Kathryn Boden (A. Carraro Imoco Conegliano to Eczacıbaşı Dynavit)
Boden spent the last three seasons at Conegliano, securing 11 trophies with the Italian side, including the CEV Champions League Women last season. Now, she will head to Turkiye for the first time in her career, after spending several seasons in Italy and Japan, linking up with Eczacıbaşı Dynavit.
The outside hitter will join a stellar line-up for the Turkish side and will hope to make an instant impact, bringing plenty of experience to the table, as Eczacıbaşı Dynavit will aim to be between the top sides this season.