The Premier League’s transfer deadline has come and gone. For the clubs that were able to secure their dream signings, it’s time to go and compete for the title, for European silverware, Champions League qualification, whatever their hearts desire.
But for the clubs who didn’t? It might be time to pick up the reading glasses and peruse the annual list of free agents — typically chock-full of memorable names, now slightly past it, but still capable of producing at a high level in the correct environments.
This list once featured the likes of Mohamed Salah and Bernardo Silva, but there’s still a solid selection left. These are the strongest five players who Premier League clubs are still able to sign beyond the deadline, and where they should consider making one final stand.
Jamie Vardy
Fans might have written off Jamie Vardy, but they really shouldn’t have. After making the move to Italy last season, enjoying Serie A life with Cremonese, the former Leicester City striker bagged seven goals, and won the league’s Player of the Month award in November 2025.
Unfortunately for his club, those strikes weren’t enough to avoid relegation to the Serie B. Fortunately for Vardy, the mere fact he was able to hit seven top-flight goals for one of the league’s worst teams provided concrete proof to onlooking clubs that the Englishman still has remnants left in the tank.
Since leaving Cremonese as a free agent in May, the 39-year-old has made headlines for securing the rights to seven Bundesliga games on his YouTube channel. No club, as of yet, has made the plunge for him.
But there’s a very clear option for Vardy, one that makes almost too much sense, to draw the curtain on his illustrious Premier League and FA Cup-winning career.
Where he should go: Vardy to Wrexham. One final Championship run, with the possibility of taking the club to the Premier League. High wages, adoring fans… and maybe he’ll finally get that Hollywood biopic made, with Ryan Reynolds starring.
Karim Benzema
Just five years ago, the Real Madrid man delivered one of the strongest Ballon D’or-winning seasons in recent memory, spearheading the La Liga giants to a treble.
In the Champions League, he was formidable, bagging hat-tricks against PSG and Chelsea, as well as a brace versus Manchester City, en-route to lifting yet another European title for Madrid.
He ended that campaign with 15 goals and two assists in 12 Champions League matches, and added a further 39 goal involvements in 32 La Liga games to also secure that title.
Just over a year later, he was in Saudi Arabia, making the move to Al-Ittihad. He has since scored 67 goals throughout his time there, and departed from Al-Hilal as a free agent in August. He bagged 17 Saudi Pro League goals in his final term, and appears still capable of extracting just a little more.
Where he should go: Benzema, despite reportedly being unwilling to move back to Europe, should consider a Premier League side. FourFourTwo can picture the Frenchman at Everton, following their failure to secure the signature of Folarin Balogun. If Carlo Ancelotti could put pen to paper at Goodison Park, so can Benzema at the Hill Dickinson.
Paul Pogba
The former Juventus and Manchester United man, in comparison to the two aforementioned players, bizarrely looks to have little left in the tank, despite an expectation that he should have — just 33 years old and struggling to pick up the pieces following his doping ban in February 2024.
There was once a time, in football’s collective and not so distant memory, that Pogba stood tall as the finest on the pitch in a World Cup final, bagging a mid-range strike to extend his side’s slim lead.
As has often been the case with high-profile Manchester United transfers in recent years, that transfer appeared to destroy the Frenchman’s career — mere seasons after his Serie A exploits left jaws dropped.
For his most recent side, AS Monaco in Ligue 1, he played his first game in over two years back in December of 2025, appearing in a 4-1 loss versus Rennes.
He made just six appearances, playing 133 minutes, for the club during its 2026-27 season, and is now a free transfer. But where does he go from here?
Where he should go: Retirement, or offer to play for pennies at any serious side in Europe’s Top 5 Leagues. It’s make-or-break for Pogba: either pack it all in, or enter one final stand. FFT can picture the Frenchman deciding on the Bundesliga. A DFB Pokal trophy lift with Bayer Leverkusen sounds alright, doesn’t it?
Jadon Sancho
Another player, another once gob-smacking talent reduced to rubble by Manchester United. After back-to-back-to-back loan periods with former club Borussia Dortmund, then Chelsea, then Aston Villa, it appears the Red Devils, nor any of those other clubs, want him.
So where does the 26-year-old, who once registered 29, 39 and 34 goal involvements across three separate Bundesliga seasons in his near teenage youth, go from here?
The obvious answer is to traverse the Raheem Sterling path (another free agent) and fade out into obscurity outside of Europe’s Top 5 Leagues. Or depart to Saudi, and claim their life-changing payday.
But if Sancho is serious about his career, not just his wealth, he should go the Todd Cantwell route: except not to a Championship club, but to a current Premier League side anticipated to go down.
Where he should go: If he manages to keep Hull City or Ipswich Town up, his career would be saved at a Premier League level. And if his side goes down, but he successfully wins over the fans with his play and effort, then neither team can be counted on to remain in the Championship. In a few years, he could be captaining them back to the English top-flight.
Wilfried Zaha
Once referred to as ‘the next Cristiano Ronaldo’ by former boss Ian Holloway, Zaha has gone down the Lionel Messi route — but only by playing MLS football in his later years.
The 33-year-old bagged three goals, and recorded an assist, in 13 appearances for Charlotte FC last season. The term prior, he struck 10, and registered six assists, in 35 matches for the MLS side.
In 2023, he made the move from Crystal Palace to Galatasaray, where he recorded 14 goal involvements in his debut season at the Super Lig club.
Zaha moved to the MLS, and played for a period in Ligue 1 at Lyon, on loan from Galatasaray — now, he’s a free agent. And the Super Lig side that released him are gunning for an unprecedented fifth consecutive Super Lig title, during a campaign in which their strongest domestic rivals are strengthening.
Where he should go: Trabzonspor. The Super Lig leaders didn’t want him, and Zaha will have the chance to play alongside Salah in a side that will surely be expected to lift Turkish silverware, and perhaps string together a half-decent Conference League run, this season. High wages, the best wing partner a Turkish top-flight forward could ask for, and the chance to prevent Galatasaray from achieving their dreams, after being dropped by the club.
