La Liga is back tonight with FC Barcelona taking on Athletic and the debuts of Antoine Griezmann and Frenkie De Jong for the Blaugrana - two of the biggest signings this summer.
Lionel Messiis not thought to be ready, but one of the biggest deals from 2017, Ousmane Dembele, will hope to convince and avoid talk of another big move for himself any time soon.
Elsewhere, Paris Saint-Germain continue to negotiate the sale of Neymar, with Barcelona and Real Madrid fighting it out for the Brazilian.
Juventus are still working to sell Paulo Dybala ahead of the European transfer deadline, with the club yet to receive any firm offers for the Argentine.
Both Manchester United and Tottenham were linked with a move for the 25-year-old. Although Spurs came closest to landing his signature, complications regarding the player’s image rights put a halt to the deal being finalised.
Juventus remain open to letting the striker leave this summer, but would like to secure a replacement before sanctioning a sale.
“The market is open and there is interest, but there are no names closer to a sale,” Fabio Paratici, the club’s sporting director, said.
If Dejan Lovren is allowed to leave Anfield it will be particularly ironic in the week that Liverpool travel to St Mary’s to play Southampton. Jurgen Klopp is happy to let the defender sign for Roma. His departure would mark the end of an era.
It is still tempting to refer to Southampton as Liverpool’s feeder club. In the past five years Lovren, Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert, Nathanial Clyne, Sadio Mane and Virgil van Dijk have made the journey from the south coast to Merseyside. All but the latter two predated the German manager and only Mane and Van Dijk have been unqualified successes. The pre-Klopp signings were the products of a confused and disjointed recruitment policy. The 52-year-old has overseen a much more coherent and targeted transfer strategy.
Deciding that Lovren is surplus to requirements at this moment is taking a risk, however. The decision not to reinforce the squad in the transfer window has the potential to backfire. The Croat is fourth choice centre back but Joe Gomez’s fitness has not been proven over a prolonged period after his long layoff with an ankle injury. Lovren might not possess the quality or the temperament that Klopp needs and a £15 million fee would look good on the balance sheet but it does leave the defence short of depth.
Read more below
"Zidane is one of the greats and I think that if the club give him what he wants, he won’t have a problem, but if they don’t give it to him, he’s going to have a hard time because what he wants is not going to happen, because right now it’s a little late," Mathias said in an interview with El Chiringuito.
"My brother is missing and I think he needs another midfielder. Of course Florentino [Perez] can get him, nothing is impossible in life. I don’t think he’s worth 200 million, but now the football world is like that, Manchester are going to ask for a lot, but not 200.
"It’s a delicate situation but the player has his personal goals, if you have to leave, well, that’s it. If you can’t stay and play where you are, you can stay and you’re done. I can’t assure you that he is going to stay at United.
"We know he wanted to move, but he’s not to blame. He’s waiting. He works hard and we’ll see what happens. In football you never know. Until September 2 everything can happen. My brother’s dream is to win the Champions League."
"I'm very happy for him, because he played a lot of years here at West Ham. He's a very good goalkeeper," the Hammers boss said.
"For different reasons he couldn't find an arrangement to continue here. We wanted him here because not only is he a good goalkeeper but he is a good player for the squad.
"He signed for Liverpool and put in a very good performance and I'm happy for him."
"Alexis is such a pro and he comes in working every single day really hard and wants to be a part of this," Solskjaer said. "It's these stories he's been put in the reserves - of course he hasn't."
Solskjaer then offered a glimmer of hope to Sanchez and his projected playing time.
"We don't have the biggest forward line in terms of numbers so Alexis might end up playing a lot more games than you expect," Solskjaer added. "We expect him to come good at this club. He's quality."
“Perisic is very, very happy, Bayern are the best club,” Frane Jurcevic told Sportske. “Ivan is more than satisfied with the club and everything else. Inter are also exceptional, but this is another step forward for him.
“As for whether he could return, you can never say never but I can’t answer that. His exit was completely civil. Conte was surprised when Ivan told him he would leave. It went exactly like this: after it was reported in the Press that he no longer counted on Ivan, Conte approached him in training and told him he was angry with these journalists who had written this nonsense.
“However, Bayern changed everything. That’s the truth. When the German club’s offer came in, obviously Ivan was interested but it’s true that we thought that if the transfer had been permanent, it would’ve been fantastic."
Graeme Souness has criticised Liverpool midfielder Fabinho for his inability to contain N’Golo Kante in the Uefa Super Cup.
The Reds triumphed 5-4 on penalties against Chelsea in Istanbul with the sides level 2-2 after extra-time.
But Souness was not satisfied with the performance of the Brazilian, who was upstaged by the Frenchman starting his first match since returning from injury.
“This guy [Fabinho], twice he had Kante dance past him as if he had Jacques Cousteau boots, lead boots on,“ Souness told Virgin Media Sport Ireland.
Transfer deadlines
Italy’s Serie A is the next big transfer deadline. The Italian window shuts on 23 August.
The transfer window in La Liga, the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 meanwhile shuts on 2 September.
For a comprehensive review of the English transfer window: click here.
