After spending such lavish amounts of money in the summer transfer window, Manchester United were never expected to give their chequebook such a hammering this month.
And that has proven to be the case. With time running out for clubs across Europe to get their last-minute transfer business done ahead of Monday evening's deadline, United are not expected to be calling upon their club photographer to be snapping pictures of any new arrivals holding a Reds scarf aloft.
Instead, United could be waving goodbye to up to four members of the first-team squad on deadline day, with Dean Henderson, Phil Jones, Jesse Lingard and Donny van de Beek all facing the prospect of leaving the club in pursuit of regular first-team football.
All four of them, should they depart, are only expected to leave on loan, although the prospect of Lingard leaving on a permanent basis cannot be distinguished if somebody is prepared to meet United's financial demands.
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