With the start of next month, 539 players in Europe's top five patrols enter the last six months of their current contracts, meaning they can agree to free transfers on the first day of the new year, and there's nothing their current teams can do to prevent them from leaving.

The French, Kylian Mbappe, Paul Pogba and Welsh Gareth Bale, are leading the list of players who will enter the last six months of their contracts on 1 January, leaving them free to negotiate with any offers to move free to any other club.

This makes some of the top clubs seriously try to end negotiations and resolve extension contracts or sell players to other clubs before the end of this month, hoping to receive at least a token fee for their stars leaving for free in the summer.

And here's the highlights of the players who can move for free by the beginning of the new year.

Defence:

Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rudiger, Tiago Silva, Cesar Azpilicueta of Chelsea, James Tarkowski of Burnley.

Midline:

Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Popacre Camara (Marseille), Axel Vitsel (Dortmund), Frank Casey (Milan), Luca Modric (Real Madrid), Gareth Bale (Real Madrid).

Attack:

Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain), Paulo Dybala (Juventus), Osman Dembele (Barcelona), Lorenzo Encini (Naples), Andrea Pelotti (Turin), Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal), Jesse Lingard (Manchester United chester), Devuk (Livigi).