Now that the Premier League transfer deadline has passed, the question is where this group of formerly elite players — and still massive names — will land next.

The Premier League transfer window has shut. For the clubs that managed to get their priority signings over the line, the focus now shifts to chasing the title, competing for European trophies, securing Champions League qualification, or whatever ambitions they have set themselves.

For those clubs that fell short, though, it may be time to put on the reading glasses and scan the yearly list of free agents — usually packed with familiar names who may be slightly beyond their peak, but are still capable of delivering at a strong level in the right setting.

This list previously included players such as Mohamed Salah and Bernardo Silva, but there is still a decent pool available. Here are the five strongest players Premier League clubs can still sign after the deadline, along with where they should think about making one last stand.

Supporters may have dismissed Jamie Vardy, but they really should not have. After moving to Italy last season and embracing life in Serie A with Cremonese, the former Leicester City striker scored seven goals and also won the league’s Player of the Month award in November 2025.

Sadly for his club, those goals were not enough to keep them from being relegated to Serie B. For Vardy, however, the fact that he still managed seven top-flight goals for one of the division’s weakest sides offered clear evidence to watching clubs that the Englishman still has something left in the tank.

Since leaving Cremonese as a free agent in May, the 39-year-old has been in the headlines for securing the rights to seven Bundesliga matches for his YouTube channel. So far, though, no club has taken the plunge on him.

Still, there is one very obvious route for Vardy, and it almost makes too much sense as a way to bring down the curtain on his distinguished Premier League and FA Cup-winning career.

Where he should go: Vardy to Wrexham. One last push in the Championship, with the possibility of helping take the club into the Premier League. Big wages, devoted supporters... and perhaps he might finally get that Hollywood biopic, with Ryan Reynolds in the starring role.

Only five years ago, the Real Madrid forward produced one of the most impressive Ballon d'Or-winning campaigns in recent memory, driving the La Liga giants to a treble.

In the Champions League, he was outstanding, scoring hat-tricks against Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, as well as a brace against Manchester City, on the way to yet another European title for Madrid.

He finished that season with 15 goals and two assists in 12 Champions League appearances, while also adding another 39 goal involvements in 32 La Liga matches to seal that title too.

Just over a year later, he was in Saudi Arabia after joining Al-Ittihad. Since then, he has scored 67 goals during his time there, and he left Al-Hilal as a free agent in August. He scored 17 Saudi Pro League goals in his final season and still seems capable of producing a little more.

Where he should go: Benzema, despite reports suggesting he does not want to return to Europe, ought to think about a Premier League club. The Frenchman can easily be imagined at Everton after their failure to sign Folarin Balogun. If Carlo Ancelotti could sign at Goodison Park, then Benzema can sign at the Hill Dickinson too.

Compared with the two players mentioned above, the former Juventus and Manchester United midfielder strangely appears to have very little left in the tank, despite the expectation that he should still have plenty — he is only 33 and has been trying to rebuild following his doping ban in February 2024.

There was a time, not so long ago in football’s shared memory, when Pogba stood out as the best player on the pitch in a World Cup final, scoring from mid-range to stretch his team’s narrow lead.

As has so often happened with high-profile Manchester United signings in recent years, that move seemed to wreck the Frenchman’s career — only a few seasons after his Serie A performances had left people stunned.

For his latest club, AS Monaco in Ligue 1, he played his first match in more than two years in December 2025, featuring in a 4-1 defeat to Rennes.

He made only six appearances and played 133 minutes for the club during the 2026-27 season, and he is now available on a free transfer. The question is what comes next.

Where he should go: Retirement, or he should offer to play for next to nothing at any serious club in Europe’s Top 5 Leagues. It is make-or-break for Pogba: either walk away from it all, or commit to one final attempt. The Bundesliga feels like a possible choice for the Frenchman. Lifting the DFB-Pokal with Bayer Leverkusen does not sound too bad, does it?

Another player, another once eye-catching talent seemingly reduced to rubble by Manchester United. After three successive loan spells with former club Borussia Dortmund, then Chelsea, then Aston Villa, it now looks as though neither the Red Devils nor any of those clubs want him.

So where does the 26-year-old go from here, having once posted 29, 39 and 34 goal involvements across three different Bundesliga seasons while still in the early stages of his career?

The obvious path would be to follow the Raheem Sterling route — another free agent — and drift into obscurity outside Europe’s Top 5 Leagues. Or he could head to Saudi Arabia and collect a life-changing pay cheque.

But if Sancho is serious about reviving his career rather than simply boosting his wealth, he should take the Todd Cantwell route — except not by joining a Championship side, but by signing for a current Premier League club expected to be relegated.

Where he should go: If he can help Hull City or Ipswich Town stay up, his career at Premier League level would be rescued. And even if his side goes down, if he wins over supporters through his performances and effort, neither club can be assumed to stay in the Championship for long. In a few years, he could even be captaining one of them back into the English top flight.

Once described as ‘the next Cristiano Ronaldo’ by former manager Ian Holloway, Zaha has taken the Lionel Messi route — though only in the sense of playing MLS football later in his career.

The 33-year-old scored three goals and provided one assist in 13 appearances for Charlotte FC last season. In the previous campaign, he scored 10 and supplied six assists in 35 matches for the MLS club.

In 2023, he moved from Crystal Palace to Galatasaray, where he produced 14 goal involvements in his debut season with the Super Lig side.

Zaha then moved to MLS, and also spent a spell in Ligue 1 with Lyon on loan from Galatasaray — and now he is a free agent. The same Super Lig club that let him go are chasing an unprecedented fifth straight Super Lig title, in a season when their strongest domestic challengers are strengthening.

Where he should go: Trabzonspor. The Super Lig leaders did not want him, and Zaha would get the chance to play alongside Salah in a team that will surely be expected to win Turkish silverware and perhaps put together a respectable Conference League run this season. Big wages, the best wing partner any Turkish top-flight forward could ask for, and the opportunity to stop Galatasaray from realising their ambitions after discarding him.