As if the mood at Tottenham had not already sufficiently soured, with gloom suddenly clouding all of Mauricio Pochettino’s good work as a minority of forgetful supporters stick the boot in, Real Madrid plan to further rock the boat by getting their hands on Christian Eriksen as early as January. The idea is that the midfielder will sign a pre-contract agreement ahead of a free transfer next summer. Oh, and once that’s done, it says here Real will plump for Pochettino too. The Spurs contingency plan? Massimiliano Allegri, apparently.

Losing to Colchester doesn’t feel quite so bad now, does it? Manchester United, too, are close to a full-blown meltdown after eking past a Rochdale side spearheaded by Aaron Wilbraham, who turns 40 next month. United could do with a sage striker with bundles of experience, and that is why Ed Woodward is jumping up and down at the prospect of signing 33-year-old Mario Mandzukic. The Juventus striker has supposedly turned his nose up at a lucrative move to sweltering Qatar, a £7m-a-year contract, in favour of joining Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s revolution of sorts in January.

Looking further down the line, United would love to sign Harry Kane – of course they would – but Tottenham have issued the kind of hands-off that belongs in the Football Manager franchise, with Daniel Levy not just putting a price tag on the England captain’s head but slapping a £250m valuation on his man. Kane wants to win trophies but Levy, as ever, is determined to dig his heels in next summer if need be.

Elsewhere, Boca Juniors fancy a season of headlines, which is why they are trying to land Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is out of contract at LA Galaxy in December. Then there is the Red Bull Salzburg and Norway striker Erling Braut Haaland, who unsurprisingly has Premier League scouts weak at the knees after 14 goals in his last 10 appearances for club and country, while Everton and Arsenal are set to battle for PSV winger Donyell Malen.

Beyond that, it is slim pickings but Phillip Cocu has been credited with an interest in bringing the Peterborough pair Ivan Toney and Marcus Maddison, who is out of contract next summer, to Derby County.