Liverpool spent most of this window waiting.
Two months of talks with Paris Saint-Germain eventually produced Bradley Barcola at £106m plus £17m in add-ons, and that only got over the line in the final week of August.
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Before him came Victor Munoz from Osasuna, Jeremy Jacquet, and Ronald Araújo on loan.
Four additions, one of them the most expensive Premier League transfer of the summer.
The other side of the ledger has been quieter and rather more painful.
Mohamed Salah walked to Trabzonspor for nothing when his contract expired, leaving Andoni Iraola a hole to fill in his first window after replacing Arne Slot.
Hugo Ekitike is out for months.
Rio Ngumoha is being retrained on the right flank because Iraola wants wingers who can play either side.
With the window shutting at 11pm on Tuesday, that’s about to change.
Fabrizio Romano says an official proposal worth around €100m is ready to be sent to Anfield, and that the buying club has already reached agreement with the player.
Manchester City are the ones preparing it for Cody Gakpo.
Romano puts the package at roughly £85m, which lines up with the £80m to £85m Liverpool are said to want.
Enzo Maresca has pushed for the deal since losing Savio and Marmoush, with Jeremy Doku sidelined for several weeks by a calf injury.
The Athletic reported on Saturday that Gakpo had chosen City over Tottenham, where Roberto De Zerbi wanted him and where a £51m bid was rejected earlier in the month.
For Liverpool the maths are comfortable.
They signed Gakpo from PSV in January 2023 for £37m, a fee that could reach £44m with add-ons, so £85m roughly doubles their money in three and a half years.
He’s 27, under contract until 2030, and made 52 appearances across all competitions last season for nine goals and six assists.
He has started this campaign well, with a goal and an assist in the opening two league games, including a finish from the edge of the box against Newcastle.
The complication is what Liverpool have left.
Their stated position all summer was that Gakpo could go once two wingers arrived.
Barcola is one.
The right side is unresolved: two bids for Brighton’s Yankuba Minteh have been knocked back, and Crystal Palace’s Ismaila Sarr has been considered without much progress.
Gakpo has also filled in through the middle, which matters with Ekitike absent and Alexander Isak the only fit senior striker.
So the offer is coming, the player wants it, and the valuation gap has closed.
What Liverpool do with roughly 60 hours and £85m will decide whether they finish the window stronger than they started it.
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