What to expect from Monday’s transfer deadline day

Title challengers, European contenders and relegation-threatened sides have one last chance to boost their squads this season.

On Monday, February 3, 2018, the transfer windows for England and Scotland both close at 23:00 GMT, with teams anticipating a flurry of late activity.

As always there will be rumours, shock moves, late deals and others that fall through for some reason.

Since being dropped for the Manchester derby on December 12th, the 27-year-old has not played for United.

Rashford has been linked with a number of top European clubs this month, including Barcelona, who can offer Champions League football like Villa.

Rashford’s wages, which are one of United’s highest earners, are a major sticking point for any deal because he is one of the country’s highest earners and makes over £300,000 per week, but it appears to have been resolved with reports that he had a medical on Sunday in the Midlands.

Alejandro Garnacho, another winger for Manchester United, has been linked with moves to Chelsea and Napoli.

Finding the right target has proved to be more difficult than impossible, despite Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta’s claim that he is “actively looking” to sign a striker in the January transfer window who can “make an impact.”

The Gunners have lost Gabriel Jesus to a season-ending injury and Kai Havertz, despite being the club’s top scorer this season, is often criticised for missing chances – although he scored in Sunday’s 5-1 win over Manchester City.

Villa rejected an offer for Ollie Watkins, with Unai Emery claiming the England international is content at the club. Despite being frequently linked to the Gunners, Alexander Isak is unlikely to leave Newcastle.

Potential targets have also been mentioned as Wolves’ Matheus Cunha and RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko, both of whom have just signed a new contract at Molineux.

Tottenham, which has been plagued by injuries all season, needs new players, with manager Ange Postecoglou aiming to strengthen the squad.

They are currently 14th in the Premier League, but they are also in line for three more titles this year.

Prior to the north London club beating Wolves on Sunday, the north London club pipped goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky to the loan signing of Lens defender Kevin Danso. The Slavia Prague signing made a £12.5 million move.

A center-back’s injury from last week’s Europa League victory over Elfsborg could cause Spurs to look into signing another defensive player, with Chelsea’s Axel Disasi and AC Milan’s England defender Fikayo Tomori among the reported targets.

Is it worthwhile to gamble on new signings right away to prevent the club’s Premier League relegation from losing tens of millions of pounds?

Bottom club Southampton defeated second-place Ipswich on Saturday to improve their morale, but they are still 10 points away from safety despite boss Ivan Juric’s playdown of any further suggestions.

The Tractor Boys, three points from safety, have already brought in Jaden Philogene, Ben Godfrey and Julio Enciso this month, but have just lost Wes Burns to a season-ending knee injury.

Leicester manager Ruud Van Nistelrooy, in contrast, says he will work “until the last second” of the window to sign new players as the Foxes enter the bottom three after Saturday’s eighth defeat at Everton.

After beating Villa, Wolves were able to rise to 17th place, and Cunha’s new contract received a boost.

Ipswich signed winger Jaden Philogene from Aston Villa for about £20 million, followed by Borussia Dortmund’s Netherlands international Donyell Malen for an additional £19 million.

For an undisclosed sum, Manchester United signed Denmark international Patrick Dorgu from Lecce for £25 million and England Under-19s international Ayden Heaven from Arsenal.

Tottenham signed Lens defender Kevin Danso on loan on a $ 21 million deal and Slavia Prague goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky for $ 12.5.

Romain Esse, a teenager from Millwall, was signed for reportedly £12 million from Crystal Palace, while Emmanuel Agbadou, a Reims player, was paid £16.6 million.

Diego Gomez from Inter Miami was signed for an undisclosed fee by Brighton, but according to reports, the deal is valued at about £11 million.

Tom Cannon, a striker for Republic of Ireland, was signed for £10 million by Championship promotion chasers Sheffield United from Leicester.

One of the seven teams that has not yet signed anyone is Liverpool, title rival Arsenal, and Chelsea.

The signing of Napoli winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia for a rumored £59 million was Paris St-Germain’s joint biggest signing in January (as opposed to Marmoush).

But the Georgian is an outlier – with none of Europe’s other top clubs making big-money signings.

The next biggest signing – after City’s trio – is Botafogo winger Luiz Henrique’s reported £27.8m move to Russian side Zenit St Petersburg.

Frankfurt paid about £21.9m to sign Marmoush’s replacement – Marseille forward Elye Wahi.

On Monday, live text updates on the BBC Sport website and app from 07:00 GMT and analysis on BBC Radio 5 Live, online, and on our social media accounts are available to follow every deadline-day rumor and rumour across the network.

The windows for most major European leagues – including France (22: 00 GMT), Germany (17: 00 GMT), Italy (19: 00 GMT) and Spain (23: 00 GMT) – also close on Monday, although times vary.

Players could still be sold to, but not bought from, Turkey as their transfer window closes on Tuesday, 11 February. The window in Saudi Arabia is already closed, having shut on Friday, 31 January.

Major League Soccer’s transfer window runs from January 31 to April 23 in the United States and Canada.