There are two transfer deadlines each summer. The second comes at the end of August amid a frenzy of breathless hype on Sky Sports News. The first, unheralded, comes in early July, when tensions rise among those managers who see only the same old faces greeting them at pre-season training.

José Mourinho likes his transfer business done early, pointedly declaring after Manchester United’s Europa League triumph on May 24 that Ed Woodward, the executive vice-chairman, “has had my list — what I want, what I would like — for more than two months”. That list included Victor Lindelof, Nemanja Matic, Ivan Perisic and Álvaro Morata. He expects far more than Lindelof on board by the time that United return for pre-season training next Saturday.

Antonio