As José Mourinho continues to scour Europe, making bids and agreeing deals for the continent’s best players to address glaring deficiancies in his side, Arsenal and Manchester United have positioned themselves outside their local Primark, hoping to pick up 2010 fashions at knock-down prices.

After Manchester United opened talks with Thomas Vermaelen about a £10m move to Old Trafford, Arsène Wenger wants to return the favour and take some dead wood off Louis van Gaal’s hands by moving for Tom Cleverley and Chris Smalling. Quite why Wenger would desire a small, tricky playmaker such as Cleverley having passed up the opportunity to sign Cesc Fábregas because he is so well stocked in that area is anyone’s guess, but Wenger knows. A bid for Smalling to cover for the losses of Sagna and Vermaelen makes more sense, apart from the fact the former Fulham man is rubbish both at right-back and in the centre of defence. Celtic’s Virgil van Dijk is another under consideration by Arsenal if they are looking to replace one elegant and goal-hungry but ultimately suspect centre-back with another, although Ronald Koeman wants to make the young Dutchman his first signing at Southampton.

Brendan Rodgers is keen to inject more of the “can do” attitude that fired Liverpool’s title charge last season for an assault on the Champions League this time around. After signing Emre Can, the Liverpool manager is now hot on the heels of Antonio Candreva, the 27-year-old Lazio midfielder no one in England had heard of until his perfect cross reminded everyone of Mario Balotelli’s brilliance. Apparently £20m will be enough to bring Candreva to Merseyside. Rodgers is also trying to tempt Fabio Cannavaro out of retirement after being impressed with the way the man nicknamed “the Berlin Wall” handled being pelted by rocks from anti-World Cup protesters as he tried to explain the rules of football to Adrian Chiles on ITV. Eric Cantona must have told Rodgers to “do one” as he is unwilling to give up his new life as global filmmaker and bearded face of French beer.

Liverpool are also making eyes at Argentina’s flying left-back Marcos Rojo and Switzerland’s Ricardo Rodríguez in a bid to get Sevilla to drop their price for Alberto Moreno, who Tottenham are now also sniffing around. Rojo, of the bright orange boots and distaste for defensive duties, would cost around £10m from Sporting Lisbon.

Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuaín is close to agreeing a deal to join Barcelona just a year after arriving at Napoli, with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United waiting to pounce if that deal falls through. Internazionale want to sign the lesser spotted but obviously talented Steven Jovetic on loan from Manchester City. QPR and Hull City are fighting it out for the services of Tom Ince after the 22-year-old passed up an opportunity to follow in his dad’s footsteps by joining Inter. Chelsea are chasing Luka Modric and Alex Song as they bid to reassemble the Premier League midfield of the year from 2010-11. And Newcastle are hoping to agree a deal for Hamburg’s Pierre-Michel Lasogga this week.