With the end of the January transfer window fast approaching, clubs face a race against time to complete their business.

Whether it is bringing in a defender to help shore up the leaky defence or trying to find that star striker to fire the team up the table, there are plenty of deals still to be done.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at some of the talking points ahead of the transfer deadline.

Spend, spend, spend?

While Premier League clubs splash the cash during the summer, the January window is often seen as a more difficult market in which to find real value for money. Aside from 2018 – which saw the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang join Arsenal, defender Virgil van Dijk complete his world-record £75million switch from Southampton to Liverpool and Alexis Sanchez head to Manchester United – the general trend has been for a lower winter spend. This year has seen a lot of loan moves so far – but there is still time for clubs to break the bank on a last-minute acquisition.

Quality not quantity

As the countdown timers tick on, the speculation concerning just which player may end up where when the dust settles on February 1 is likely to reach fever pitch. There will no doubt be countless sightings of Lionel Messi at Luton Airport, Dries Mertens on the M25 and perhaps even Edinson Cavani strolling through Stansted to help fuel the social media frenzy. Fans up and down the country will be constantly hitting refresh for some official confirmation – with plenty bound to be left wondering just what might have been had the fax machine not run out of paper.