Yann Sommer is heading to Belgium. The 37-year-old Swiss goalkeeper has signed a three-year deal with Club Brugge as a free agent, leaving Inter Milan after two Serie A titles and a Champions League final appearance.
Brugge needed a replacement for Simon Mignolet, who retired in May aged 38 after a career that ended exactly where it should — with a Belgian title. They've found one with serious pedigree. Sommer was part of an Inter side that reached the 2025 Champions League final, only to be dismantled 5-0 by Paris Saint-Germain. The season after, Inter were shockingly dumped out by Bodø/Glimt in the knockout playoff round. So Sommer arrives in Bruges knowing exactly how brutal European football can be at either end of the scale.
What Sommer actually brings
This isn't a club handing a legacy deal to an aging name. Sommer played at the top level of European football until this summer — Champions League football with Bayern Munich, then with Inter. He has league titles in three different countries: Switzerland with Basel, Germany with Bayern, and Italy with Inter. That's not a player winding down. That's a player who's been winning things almost continuously for a decade.
He also earned 94 caps for Switzerland and appeared at three consecutive World Cups from 2014 to 2022, before retiring from international football after Switzerland's Euro 2024 quarterfinal exit to England.
For Brugge, who have now replaced one Champions League-calibre goalkeeper with another, this is a serious statement of ambition. Their defensive odds in European competition deserve a second look — a goalkeeper of Sommer's experience changes how you assess a side in the group stages.
Three years is a bold commitment
Signing a 37-year-old to a three-year deal is either a sign of genuine faith or a gamble — possibly both. If Sommer holds his level for even two of those three seasons, Brugge will have got the better end of this deal considerably. Free agent. Three years. Two Serie A titles on the CV.
Club Brugge have signed better than anyone expected this summer.
