A report claimed the United striker had met with a leading sports agency to try to hasten a move away from Old Trafford.

But Rashford, who is currently represented by his brother Dwaine Maynard, wrote on Instagram: “Been a lot of false stories written over the past few weeks, but guys this is getting ridiculous – never met with any agency and don’t have any plans to…”

As a sign of how constrained this January window might be, one mid-level Champions League club briefly considered whether a move for Marcus Rashford might be possible. There was a feeling his comments about leaving Manchester United could lead to a knock-down price… only for their interest to almost immediately be knocked down. The plan to try and enquire about a £30m deal didn’t even get off the ground.

The gap to what United would actually want, which is understood to be beyond £60m, shows how it might take an awful lot to get this market going. One circular problem sums up everything. Most Premier League clubs want to do significant business but PSR has left highly-paid squads with little headroom, and those in Europe just don’t have the money to spend. Many of the latter are still struggling after Covid, especially when the English competition so inflates the wage race. As a consequence, almost everyone needs to sell first, but there are few buyers to make that happen. That is the set-up for stagnation, and a market that simply won’t move.

The winter transfer window is open, with clubs across Europe looking for value in a difficult market this month.

Injury crises, title challenges and relegation battles will force plenty of clubs into the market in early 2025, with plenty of eyes on the Premier League as clubs such as Arsenal and Manchester City look primed to make signings.

Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis was speaking at the Globe Soccer Dubai Awards and underlined what the Premier League club will do – and don’t want to do – in January as they look to build on a great first half of the season.

Forest are second in the table, behind only Liverpool, after losing just four times this term so far.

“We will do whatever is needed to be stronger and of course our coach (Nuno Espirito Santo) will decide what he really needs,” said Marinakis. “We must keep the same spirit and same environment in the dressing room and all our players this year have the right spirit. This is a very good climate we should try our very best not to interrupt it.

“It is an important achievement because in all positions we have players who perform or even over-perform. For us this is our first priority – keep the momentum, keep winning and continue to enjoy the journey.”

It is understood that Saudi Arabian clubs were the first to act on this, with three of them making offers that would involve wages in excess of Rashford’s £315,000-a-week contract at United. The player has already turned these down, and has made it known he is unwilling to move to Turkey, as he desires a move that would help to win back his England place in time for the 2026 World Cup.

Jamie Carragher says Man City will either go big or not bother in January, despite their terrible drop-off in results this season.

“Man City will try and get the real deal [in January], of course they will, but what you don’t want to do is to end up sort of buying someone for £30m-£40m and in six months he’s not going to play and he’s going to be sitting there on big wages,” he said on Sky Sports.

“If they feel they need to do that to help them get over the line to make the Champions League then they have to do it – but if it’s someone who they don’t really think will move the dial in the next six months or in the future then it’s probably best to leave it.”

City are sixth in the table at the halfway point after beating Leicester to end their winless run, but sit 14 points off leaders Liverpool who also have a game in hand.

Aston Villa are looking to add another wide forward to their ranks as they continue to balance their Premier League and Champions League exertions, and Donyell Malen might just fit the bill. The Dutchman has slipped down the pecking order at Borussia Dortmund and may be available for the right fee. Villa have opened talks over a move, according to Sky Sports.

If 2024 took England to the brink of the trophy that has eluded them since 1966, 2025 brings the arrival of a manager with the track record of winning silverware that Gareth Southgate lacked. Southgate’s achievement in twice coming agonisingly close, denied by penalties in the Euro 2020 final and by an 86th-minute decider four years later, earned him a knighthood.

Thomas Tuchel is ineligible for such an honour. But he has medals from the Champions League, the Bundesliga and Ligue Un. A manager whose contract only lasts until 2026 will be charged with winning the World Cup. He has at least already won the Club World Cup.

Tuchel officially starts work on New Year’s Day, though he attended December’s draw in Zurich to determine England’s opponents in World Cup qualifying: Serbia, Albania, Latvia and Andorra do not promise to form a pool of death.

“It’s a difficult group,” said Tuchel but qualifying has rarely presented a problem for England since Steve McClaren failed to reach Euro 2008 and the German is a manager with a proven expertise in knockout football. Besides his Champions League win with Chelsea, Tuchel steered Paris Saint-Germain to the final and Bayern Munich to within a few minutes of it.

Brighton striker Evan Ferguson is the new man on Arsenal’s radar, according to reports.

Alexander Isak has long been touted as the Gunners’ top target to add to their frontline but Newcastle are said to be adamant that the Swede won’t leave.

TalkSPORT claim that Brighton are mulling over what to do with Ferguson, who is yet to make his mark on their attack this season.

Fulham and West Ham are also claimed to be keen with a loan deal not ruled out.

Patience is a virtue in the race to sign Dani Olmo, should he become available.

Marca report on the Barcelona midfielder needing LaLiga approval to appear in any of the Spanish giants’ competitions in the second half of the season, having been deregistered due to financial restrictions.

Manchester United and Man City are named in this latest report and Arsenal have recently been linked, and now a loan move is being talked about as potentially on the cards.

But first Olmo and Barcelona are said to be intent on exhausting all available options to keep him at the Camp Nou.