Manchester City may have already spent in excess of £120m this month but they haven’t finished yet, with Andrea Cambiaso of Juventus a potential full-back recruit and Atalanta’s Éderson, rated at £70m, among the midfielders they have their eye on. The Mill knows what you’re thinking, but beyond the one at Atalanta and the one already at City there are no other Edersons playing top-flight football anywhere, so sadly the dream of a team full of them is destined never to be realised.

If City fail to land Éderson No2 they might sign their former player Douglas Luiz from Juventus, which is handy given that they already have the Italian side on speed dial, though like Chelsea they would ideally take him on loan and Juve are interested only in a sale. Talking of Juve and sales, the Italian side have valued defender Cambiaso, who turns 25 next month, at €80m and so will dismiss the €65m bid they are expecting to receive from Manchester.

Related: Men’s transfer window January 2025: all deals from Europe’s top five leagues

Borussia Dortmund’s left-back recruitment department have taken an unusual approach to their jobs this month. Out of a potential talent pool of thousands of players spread across the entire world, they have spread their net near and narrow, settling on two targets who play in the same city, in stadiums a mere seven miles apart. The Sun says they want Ben Chilwell, who has been told to clear off by Chelsea, and the Telegraph that Arsenal’s Oleksandr Zinchenko is in fact their top target. The Bundesliga side have cooled on Marcus Rashford, having fled in terror at the first mention of the forward’s £350,000-a-week salary demands, leaving the 27-year-old apparently suitorless with a week of the window remaining.

After failing with a €55m bonuses included offer – United want €65m, and without bonuses – Napoli have turned their attentions from Alejandro Garnacho to Borussia Dortmund’s Karim Adeyemi. That means Chelsea would be the United winger’s sole remaining suitors, with the Telegraph reporting they are “getting ready to formalise their interest with an offer”. But they warn that United “are ready to play hardball” over their £50m-rated 20-year-old and (though this seems obvious to the Mill) “will not consider offers involving players they do not want moving in the opposite direction”. Adeyemi turned Napoli down earlier this month, but after Borussia binned off their coach, Nuri Sahin, on Tuesday night, is reconsidering his options. The Neapolitans may yet reconsider theirs and up their offer for Garnacho, having already agreed the outlines of a contract with the Argentinian.

In further winger news, Southampton are already preparing for life without the sought-after youth-team graduate Tyler Dibling and have identified the Cardiff wide man Ollie Tanner as their prime target. They might get him for a mere £3m, but they will have to pip rival suitors Leicester, Leeds and Burnley to get there.

Back, then, to Chelsea, who have apparently identified Hellas Verona’s Reda Belahyane as a replacement for Cesare Casadei, who is on his way back to his native Italy to sign for either Torino or Lazio. Tempting as it is to wonder why a player without a single league minute to his name this season, and a total of 71 minutes spread across 11 substitute appearances last season, needs to be replaced at all, a €15m deal for the 20-year-old French-born midfielder, who made his full international debut for Morocco in October, is apparently being hatched.