Injury-ravaged Manchester United's search for a midfielder and left-back is likely to dominate transfer deadline day tomorrow as Liverpool aim to keep hold of star man Mohamed Salah.
A record worldwide €7.76bn (£6.56bn) had been spent in the window by Wednesday and the top-spending Premier League are likely to add to that significantly before it shuts.
Erik ten Hag’s side have been hit by injuries throughout the first period of the season, seeing the likes of Luke Shaw, Tyrell Malacia, Mason Mount and even new signing Rasmus Hojlund all face time off the pitch, with experienced defender Raphael Varane also now missing for the next few weeks.
United have been linked with Fiorentina midfielder Sofyan Amrabat throughout the window, which shuts at 11pm on Friday, while left-back Marc Cucurella has been tipped to replace the injured Shaw on loan from Chelsea.
Blues boss Mauricio Pochettino kept his cards close to his chest on Wednesday night about possible talks between the two clubs over the future of the 25-year-old.
He said: "I don’t know anything (about Cucurella). All the players that are involved every day on the training ground with us are in our plans. Then, things happen, it’s the decision of both the club and the player, and if something happens in the next few days, we will communicate to you."
The future of Salah has hit the headlines over the last week with Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad heavily linked with the forward, but Reds boss Jurgen Klopp has already dismissed any potential idea of the Egyptian leaving, although the Saudi deadline is 20 September.
One potential incoming at Anfield could be Bayern Munich midfielder Ryan Gravenberch.
Manchester City are expected to bring in Wolves midfielder Matheus Nunes after a £53million deal was struck between the clubs, with Kevin De Bruyne currently sidelined.
The 25-year-old is likely to join Josko Gvardiol and Jeremy Doku as new faces at the Etihad Stadium this summer.
Chelsea have once again been busy in the window, splashing £359m (€419m) on the likes of Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia, Christopher Nkunku, Axel Disasi, Nicolas Jackson and Robert Sanchez, while Cole Palmer could be the next from City.
Tottenham are yet to replace striker Harry Kane, who has joined Bayern Munich, but are linked with a move for Nottingham Forest forward Brennan Johnson.
Brighton are set to bring Barcelona forward Ansu Fati to the Amex Stadium on loan in the closing stages of the window, with another Barcelona player in Clement Lenglet likely to head to Aston Villa.
Fulham could land Everton midfielder Alex Iwobi, with Joao Palhinha reportedly a target for Bayern, while Crystal Palace are set to clinch a deal for Manchester United goalkeeper Dean Henderson.
The global transfer spending record has already been broken this summer, according to figures from Transfermarkt.
Clubs worldwide had spent a combined €7.76bn (£6.56bn) on 1,617 players by yesterday, surpassing the previous high for a single window of €7.6bn (£6.51bn) set in 2019.
The Premier League is comfortably the highest-spending division in 2023-24, with almost €2.45bn (£2.1bn) having been invested in 269 players.
The Saudi Pro League is second on the list with a combined total of €848.18m (£727m), ahead of Italy's Serie A €796m (£683m), Germany’s Bundesliga €698m (£598m), France’s Ligue 1 €697m (£597m) and Spain’s LaLiga €399m (£342m).
The English top flight has moved further clear of rival leagues compared with 2019, with Premier League spending almost doubling in value and now accounting for 32 per cent of the global total, up from 20% four years ago.
In contrast, the remaining four of Europe’s 'big five’ leagues have all so far spent less than they did in 2019.
Those declines have been offset by a huge rise in Saudi Pro League spending, from less than 1% of the total in 2019 to more than 11% in 2023.
The increase in Saudi Arabia’s market share has come at the expense of LaLiga clubs in particular, whose spending is worth just 5% of the worldwide total this summer – compared with 18% four years ago.
The British government has been urged to add a 10 % transfer levy to its package of football reforms.
The Fair Game group wants the government to adopt the measure, which was one of the recommendations of the fan-led review back in November 2021 but did not feature in the white paper on football governance published earlier this year.
Fair Game says if a levy had been in place on deals between Premier League clubs and between Premier League and overseas clubs over the last five years, it would have raised £160m to support the English football pyramid each year.
