Ronaldo, De Jong, Gordon, Aubameyang and more – five players who could still move on Deadline Day

Deadline day in recent years has often felt more like a mopping-up operation than a frantic rush to land a big deal, but this year there is a sense that everyone is still on the lookout for a last-minute star arrival.

For Chelsea, their poor start to the season could lead them back into the market for another forward, especially if they sell Christian Pulisic or Hakim Ziyech, or both. Manchester City meanwhile are now in talks for Borussia Dortmund defender Manuel Akanji, and Arsenal are reportedly still on the hunt for another midfielder.

Manchester United and Barcelona could yet be the most active teams at the market’s end. The Blaugrana face a race to hurry some of their players out the door, and United may need another striker should Cristiano Ronaldo depart. We take a look at five key figures who could be on their way in the next two days.

Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)

Manchester United were told by Ronaldo that he wanted to leave in order to keep playing Champions League football. From the Portuguese striker’s point of view, it makes sense.

But the problem for the veteran is that his style no longer lends itself to today’s top sides, and other less prominent clubs either can’t afford him, or can’t offer him Champions League football.

With the transfer window drawing to a close, Ronaldo’s two most viable options appear to be Napoli and Sporting Lisbon. It is tough to make a prediction on what happens, but perhaps the biggest wrinkle is that United have been historically poor at making the transfers they do actually want to happen, so rushing to find a replacement to help Ronaldo out seems unlikely.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Barcelona)

At 33, Aubameyang still appears to be in excellent shape and his goalscoring exploits for Barcelona earlier this year demonstrated that his decline at Arsenal might have been due to personal problems with Mikel Arteta rather than any issues with his ability and fitness.

Thomas Tuchel, his former Borussia Dortmund manager, would likely have no problems working with him again, and with Barcelona looking to lighten their squad, he could lead the line at Stamford Bridge ahead of Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz to turn Chelsea’s early-season stumbles around.

Another option for Barcelona might be to let Memphis go after seeing his move to Juventus collapse. A transfer fee of £8.6m (€10m) has reportedly put off Erik ten Hag’s United, but Depay has shown himself capable of cutting it in the top flight in Spain, so a late transfer may yet appear.

Frenkie de Jong (Barcelona)

Another Barcelona problem has been their tendency to kick debts and obligations into the future, and then make a short-term decision to get out of difficulty. De Jong is currently owed around £15m in deferred wages and understandably does not want to leave the club until the matter is settled. Given Barcelona felt they needed the £65m from selling him, losing a quarter of that complicated the matter so much that they appeared to have made nothing at all from him.

Of course, he’s still a hugely talented player, so big-spending Chelsea, or perhaps Paris Saint-Germain, might be tempted into a late offer to test Barcelona’s mettle.

Anthony Gordon (Everton)

Everton’s 21-year-old forward has two goals in his last two appearances and Toffess boss Frank Lampard has made it clear that he has no intention of selling him in the face of a £45m bid from Chelsea.

The youngster could yet, however, be the subject of another offer from the Blues which would demand Everton consider the opportunity to make a profit, and dip back into the market to supplement Dominic Calvert-Lewin over the course of the rest of the season.

Lampard has been keen to rebuild his squad after last season’s struggles but with Gordon’s potential and quality there needs to be some kind of continuity. Everton lost Wayne Rooney far too early and it removed the affection that the fans had for one of their own – Chelsea’s next offer will have to take that into account.

Mykhaylo Mudryk (Shakhtar Donetsk)

Mudryk, like Gordon, is another 21-year-old versatile forward. Arsenal are believed to be ready to make an effort to sign him because they think he can play both on the left and the right flank.

A £20m fee has been mentioned for the Ukrainian, whose price and situation may be affected by the ongoing war in his country.