Another transfer window has seen another huge outlay on fees, but not all great signings have to come at such a cost.
Paulo Dybala, Paul Pogba, Angel Di Maria, Antonio Rudiger and Boubacar Kamara have already moved as free agents in this window.
With just a couple of days to go before the deadline, there remain some notable names looking for clubs.
Let's take a look...
Marcelo (34 years old – last club: Real Madrid)
It is not often the Champions League-winning captain of the previous campaign is without a club at the start of the new season, but that has been the case for Marcelo.
Admittedly, the left-back – a five-time European champion – was firmly behind Ferland Mendy in the pecking order last term, starting only seven games in all competitions.
However, Marcelo said upon leaving Madrid: "I won't retire, not now. I feel I can still play. Facing Real Madrid won't be a problem. I'm a big Madridista, but I'm also a big professional."
Juan Mata (34 – last club: Manchester United)
Mata is another hugely experienced and hugely talented player who has not yet clinched what may be the final move of a fine career.
The Spaniard spent eight and a half years at United but only once did he start over 30 league games for the club in a single season. He appeared in United's Premier League starting XI on only 16 occasions across the past three campaigns combined.
Still, a switch from United to bitter rivals Leeds United would have been a controversial one, and reports of the Elland Road outfit's interest in Mata were reportedly swiftly dismissed by sources, leaving him still without a club.
Djibril Sidibe (30 – last club: Monaco)
Sidibe's stock was really quite high after winning Ligue 1 with Monaco in 2017, and he added a World Cup medal with France 12 months later.
However, the right-back did not follow team-mates like Kylian Mbappe, Bernardo Silva and Fabinho in quitting Monaco, instead sticking around to see interest in his signature wane.
An uninspiring loan spell with Everton did little to boost Sidibe's profile, but he is still a good age as he looks for another club.
Ross Barkley (28 – last club: Chelsea)
Barkley still had a contract with Chelsea heading into the final week of the window, but the Blues agreed to cut short a hugely disappointing four-and-a-half-year stint at Stamford Bridge.
Having secured an exit from Everton, the midfielder never recreated his Goodison Park form on the big stage, with a loan move to Aston Villa starting brightly before quickly fading.
Barkley was a key man for England as recently as 2019, though, and there will surely be a club willing to take the risk, with Rangers heavily linked.
Florian Grillitsch (27 – last club: Hoffenheim)
Perhaps the pick of the remaining free agents, Grillitsch is on the market because he chose to be, for Hoffenheim would have been very keen to keep a player of his talents.
Yet the midfielder is still waiting on his next club, revealing to Kicker he had changed his agent amid suggestions of unrealistic financial demands.
"Certain things have been extremely unfortunate recently," Grillitsch said, with the failure to land a deal to this point perhaps meaning potential suitors could instead land a bargain.
Bayern were victims of Real Madrid's lethal efficiency, says Tuchel
Bayern Munich were victims of Real Madrid's lethal efficiency in Tuesday's 2-2 draw but the Germans are ready to beat them in next week's Champions League semi-final return leg, says coach Thomas Tuchel.
The Bavarians struck twice in four minutes early in the second half with a shot from Leroy Sane and a Harry Kane penalty to turn the game around after Vinicius Junior had put the visitors ahead in the 24th against the run of play.
Brazilian striker Vinicius also bagged an equaliser with an 83rd-minute spot kick as Bayern were pushing for a third goal.
Tuchel felt Bayern were in a strong position to stretch their lead going into the closing stages, but instead they will travel to Madrid next Wednesday with the tie all square.
"The result is what it is and it is not worth spending any time thinking about it," Tuchel, who will leave Bayern at the end of the season after a disappointing domestic campaign, said at his post-match press conference.
"Real have done it before, to score twice with two chances.
"We are not the first team to suffer that. They have the finish, they have the quality to do that."
Reflecting on the match, Tuchel added: "We had a strong start, then we lost a bit of our rhythm.
"Then [later in the game] we should have scored a third, but we were not efficient enough, not cold enough to add a third. Then we gifted them a penalty."
Bayern enjoyed a strong start and also had chances to score again after going 2-1 up.
They will now need to win against Real, who are chasing a 15th European Cup, in Madrid if they are to advance to the final at Wembley.
Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain face each other in the other semi-final, with the first leg of that tie taking place on Wednesday.
Howard Webb admits Forest should have had penalty in controversial Everton defeat
Howard Webb admitted officials got one of the big decisions wrong in Nottingham Forest's controversial Premier League defeat to Everton this month.
Forest were beaten 2-0 at Goodison Park on April 21 but were left fuming that referee Anthony Taylor did not award a penalty despite three separate calls involving Ashley Young.
Following the game, Forest released a controversial statement on the social media platform X - formerly Twitter - that hinted at the fact VAR Stuart Attwell was a fan of relegation rivals Luton Town and should not have been involved in the game.
Webb was speaking about the incidents on the Mic'd Up TV programme and claimed that while the first decisions were "really subjective calls", the third one , which saw Young challenge Callum Hudson-Odoi, should have resulted in a penalty for Nuno Espirito Santo's team.
"The referee waves away the penalty appeal. The VAR looks at it and asks himself the question, 'Was the non-award clearly and obviously wrong?' and came to the conclusion it wasn't," Webb said.
"He doesn't see a clear action by Young that he considers to be worthy of intervention, one that reaches the threshold of being very clear.
"But we would have preferred an intervention for the referee to go to the screen to make a judgement for himself in this situation and probably would have come out with a different outcome if that would've happened."
"The game is played by human beings, it's officiated by human beings. And obviously our job is to try to ensure that we have a positive impact on the game by identifying correct decisions on the field. This wasn't one.
"But of course they're humans making judgements as well, so we always are trying to reduce the number of errors that we that we make."
Webb also said referee Michael Oliver will have been "really disappointed" to have not originally spotted a foul by Declan Rice on Ben Davies as Arsenal beat Tottenham 3-2 in the North London derby on Sunday, with a VAR intervention eventually awarding a spot-kick.
"I know Michael [Oliver] will be really disappointed," added Webb.
"He had a really good game. He's one of our top referees and one of the top referees in the world."
'It's time for a magical night at home,' says Vinicius ahead of Bayern Munich second leg
Vinicius Junior is eyeing "a magical night at home" when Real Madrid welcome Bayern Munich for their Champions League semi-final second leg next week.
The two European heavyweights shared a 2-2 draw in a pulsating first leg at the Allianz Arena, setting up a grandstand climax when the battle resumes at Santiago Bernabeu.
Vinicius opened the scoring in the 24th minute, but Madrid found themselves 2-1 behind in the second half after Leroy Sane levelled and Harry Kane slotted home from the penalty spot.
However, the Brazil international was also on target from the penalty spot to ensure a share of the spoils with his 31st direct goal involvement in the Champions League since the start of the 2021-22 season - more than any other player in that time.
"We always want to win, but we know that this competition is like that, you can't give away balls because teams score the chances they have," he said, as reported by Reuters.
"We have to keep our heads calm, rest until next week, and we know that we and the fans are going to leave everything at the Santiago Bernabeu to qualify.
"Now it's time for a magical night at home to win and secure our place in the final."
Vinicius' first goal saw him calmly slide home from Toni Kroos' delicious throughball, with the latter playing 15 line-breaking passes in the first half - at least 10 more than any other player on the pitch.
Rodrygo, who was fouled by Kim Min-jae for the penalty that led to Madrid's second goal, paid tribute to the 34-year-old.
"We all keep telling him to keep on playing for not just one more season, but many seasons to come yet," he told Movistar. "He's genuinely a maestro with talent which people love to watch, and we all love to play with.
"If we couldn't win, we were determined not to lose. Given what went on, a draw's a good result. We know the Champions League. We're accustomed to matches like this.
"I believe that teams think they've killed us off, and that's when we are at our most dangerous."
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