Nine big-name free agents available to sign as Premier League summer transfer window closes
Premier League clubs splashed the cash on deadline day, but some of the biggest names in recent football history are still available for free.
Manchester City, Tottenham, Chelsea and Liverpool have all completed deals worth £100million or more – akin to fees once spent on some of the stars below.
With the 2026 summer transfer window now shut, here are nine big-name players top-flight clubs could snap up.
Jadon Sancho
The 26-year-old has been on the search for a new permanent home after he was released by Manchester United in June.
The winger has spent the last two-and-a-half seasons on loan at Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea and Aston Villa.
Sancho, who has kept himself fit using the facilities at Flixton FC, was the subject of an enquiry from Qatari side Al Rayyan.
He has also been linked with a third stint at Dortmund, but the 23-cap England international is still without a club in September.
Paul Pogba
Monaco gave the former Man United star a career lifeline after his two-year ban, yet injuries wrecked his comeback.
The 2018 World Cup winner had a deal with the Ligue 1 side until June 2027 but left the club last month after his contract was terminated.
The 33-year-old only managed to play six matches for Monaco last season, five of which came as a substitute.
Pogba has since been linked with a move to Major League Soccer in America, but Carlton Cole admitted to talkSPORT that he would bring the Frenchman to West Ham if it proved to be an option.
Karim Benzema
The Ballon d’Or winner has left Saudi Pro League side Al Hilal after just six months – despite his contract still having a year to run.
The 38-year-old, a five-time Champions League victor with Real Madrid, only arrived in February after a spell with Al Ittihad.
His exit comes amid Al Hilal investing heavily in Premier League attackers – Crysencio Summerville, Ollie Watkins and Gabriel Martinelli.
Benzema’s next move is currently unclear, though there has been speculation that the former France striker could retire as well.
Riyad Mahrez
The Algerian was part of one of football’s biggest underdog stories when he won the Premier League at Leicester in 2016.
Mahrez, who was crowned the 2015/16 PFA Player of the Year as the Foxes defied odds of 5000/1 to lift the top-flight English title, then enjoyed glittering success at Manchester City.
He has spent the past three years at Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia, which is where the winger may choose to stay at their rival club, Al-Shabab.
Mahrez retired from international football after scoring two goals in four games for Algeria in their run to the World Cup last 32.
Dani Carvajal
The former Real Madrid captain is the second most decorated player in the club’s history, winning only one trophy fewer than Luka Modric.
His 23-year tenure across two spells at the Santiago Bernabeu definitively ended at the end of last season.
The six-time Champions League winner, who made 450 appearances for Madrid, has kept his cards close to his chest on his next steps.
Carvajal, David Alaba and Dani Ceballos have all failed to find new landing spots since leaving Los Blancos.
Raheem Sterling
The 82-cap England international is still only 31, but his next steps are unclear after he was charged with dangerous driving by police.
Sterling had hoped to revitalise his playing career at Feyenoord at the start of the year after he was released by Chelsea in late January.
He had been banished from the Blues’ first-team training for the first six months of the 2025/26 campaign, which came on the back of scoring just once in 28 matches on loan at Arsenal.
However, he only registered one assist without a goal in eight outings in the Netherlands on a short-term deal with Feyenoord.
Wilfried Zaha
The 33-year-old sparked rumours of a fairytale return to Crystal Palace after training with his old club over the summer.
Zaha is a free agent after ending his three-year spell at Galatasaray – but two of which were spent on loan to Lyon and MLS side Charlotte.
The winger, who is already a known quantity to Eagles boss Pierre Sage from their time in France, won’t be rejoining Palace.
“I am happy to see he has this link with the club and fans, but I don’t think that he will stay with us,” Sage said last month.
Philippe Coutinho
The 34-year-old was voted number 87 in Liverpool’s list of their 100 greatest players at the start of the summer.
But a mixture of injuries and poor form have seen his stock plummet since he became one of the world’s most expensive players with his move from Anfield to Barcelona in 2018.
He returned to his boyhood club Vasco da Gama in July 2024, initially on loan from Aston Villa before joining permanently a year later.
Coutinho, who scored 17 goals and assisted seven others in 81 appearances in his second stint, announced his exit in February because he was ‘tired mentally’ and has been a free agent ever since.
Oleksandr Zinchenko
The Ukraine star is available after his short-term deal with Ajax ran out.
The former Arsenal man made just two appearances after joining in February before an ACL injury ruled him out of the rest of the season.
And despite boasting four Premier League winners’ medals on his CV, talkSPORT’s Rory Jennings claimed his race is run at the top level.
Jennings said: “Zinchenko doesn’t get a Premier League club. He was so out of his depth the second that he left Arsenal.
“Where would he go? What club? Name one Premier League club where he would get a game.”
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