The Premier League's biggest clubs were inactive or being frustrated on the final day of trading in the summer transfer window as spending in the English top flight prepared to reach record levels on Tuesday.
With Everton continuing to block any attempts to sign highly rated center back John Stones, Chelsea had to settle for Senegal international Papy Djilobodji as a last-minute defensive reinforcement from French club Nantes.
Manchester United were attempting to move on from the chaotic handling of goalkeeper David de Gea's aborted move to Real Madrid, with the 20-time English champions expected to announce the transfer of 19-year-old French forward Anthony Martial for 36 million pounds ($55.5 million).
That would make him the most expensive teenager in football history, marking a major gamble by United as manager Louis van Gaal looks to bolster his attacking options that have been depleted by offloading Robin van Persie, Radamel Falcao and Javier Hernandez this summer.
As for Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool, they were keeping quiet and weren't expected to make any more signings by the end of the window. Arsenal has bought just one player, goalkeeper Petr Cech, despite calls for manager Arsene Wenger to add a striker to the squad to ease the burden on Olivier Giroud.
City appeared to be satisfied with their summer of recruitment that was capped by the signing of midfielder Kevin de Bruyne for a club-record 54.5 million pounds ($83 million) on Sunday.
The late spending was being done by middle-rank clubs, with West Ham bringing in four players including midfielders Alex Song and Victor Moses on loan and Croatia striker Nikica Jelavic from Hull.
Southampton spent a reported 11.5 million ($17.6 million) on center back Virgil van Dijk from Scottish side Celtic and Everton signed Argentine defender Ramiro Funes Mori from River Plate for 9.5 million pounds ($14.5 million) on a five-year deal. Promoted Bournemouth signed striker Glenn Murray from Crystal Palace.
It moved the total spending by Premier League clubs in this transfer window to about 820 million ($1.25 billion), close to the record of 835 million pounds set last summer, according to football finance expert Deloitte.
Martial's move to United would ensure the record was broken.
"This level of spending continues to be driven in large part by the increases in domestic and overseas broadcast revenue in recent years," said Alex Thorpe, senior manager in Deloitte's Sports Business Group.
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