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If the Premier League’s Big Six were more open to doing transfer business among themselves, it is easy to imagine a Manchester United-Arsenal swap, while Liverpool could also find a suitable successor to Mo Salah much closer to home.

The elite clubs are not completely opposed to trading with one another — Chelsea have sold a midfielder to Manchester United this summer — but the concern over strengthening a direct rival still too often makes them hesitant about deals that could actually suit all parties.

And with some of the fees being quoted this summer, these sides may well be the only ones capable of affording each other’s players anyway.

So here is one potentially available player from each of their Big Six rivals who could help sort out those clubs this summer.

Marcus Rashford is back at Manchester United, but nobody should pretend the relationship between the England winger and his boyhood club is now a healthy one.

United want Rashford off the wage bill because the 28-year-old is earning roughly £325,000 per week. But the Red Devils are still deeply wary of being made to look foolish in the transfer market.

A move sending Rashford to Barcelona was ideal; Barca covered most of his wages and he was far enough away for plenty of people not to notice what United might be losing.

In the past, selling or loaning Rashford to a direct rival would have been unthinkable, but those are also the clubs that can actually afford to take him on.

Arsenal clearly need a left winger, and they might well have had to pay twice as much if Vinicius Junior had ever seriously intended to join them. They would certainly have had to offer the Brazilian a package beyond Rashford’s already enormous wages.

Perhaps letting their academy product move to the Emirates would be easier for United to accept if they were also bringing in one of Arsenal’s own players.

Myles Lewis-Skelly could solve two issues for United. They need a left-back and they need a holding midfielder. The 19-year-old can do both — just not simultaneously, unfortunately.

Arsenal have thought about putting Lewis-Skelly on the market to bank that valuable pure profit, but two things seem to be stopping them.

First, the teenager showed last season during the run-in that he can be a very useful option. Then, as always, there is the fear that Lewis-Skelly would improve a direct rival.

But the arrival of Bruno Guimaraes arguably leaves four players ahead of the Hale End graduate in the battle for two midfield spots. If Lewis-Skelly is not going to play — and he needs minutes for his development — then he becomes more useful to Arsenal as a saleable asset.

With Jeff Bezos and company now investing in Liverpool, it feels inevitable that the Reds will soon be linked with Kylian Mbappe and Michael Olise.

Either of those players would address the obvious gap on Liverpool’s right flank, a position they oddly seem determined to fill by signing a player more comfortable on the left.

Instead of trying to persuade Paris Saint-Germain to lower their £145 million asking price for Bradley Barcola — a task hardly helped by the image of Bezos arriving at Anfield — it may make more sense to ask Chelsea whether they would sell Pedro Neto.

Of course they would. Chelsea will always sell if the price is right. In Neto’s case, that figure is around £70 million, which does not look outrageous in this summer’s market, where common sense appears to have disappeared entirely.

This is probably the most realistic of these possible deals because Tottenham Hotspur seem to have spent the last year attempting to make it happen.

The fact that Spurs are still waiting for a final answer underlines how keen they are to sign Savinho, and also shows Manchester City’s reluctance to sell the Brazilian, particularly while Enzo Maresca is still assessing the players he inherited from Pep Guardiola.

Whatever Maresca ultimately decides, Savinho is unlikely to get much game time at the Etihad as Jeremy Doku’s deputy. And with others also capable of covering for the Belgian, City are in a position where they can afford to sell.

Especially if Spurs are prepared to offer City double the £30.8 million they paid for Savinho two years ago. There has been little evidence to justify that kind of profit — he scored once while making seven league starts last season — but Tottenham clearly see something in the 22-year-old.

Maresca is not lacking options in many positions, but the new City manager could certainly do with more depth at right-back.

Matheus Nunes improved enormously last season, but he is still fundamentally a central midfielder.

And unless Rico Lewis convinces Maresca in pre-season that he deserves the new manager’s trust, City will need to enter the market for a full-back.

Maresca knows Malo Gusto well, having helped bring out the best form of the France defender’s Chelsea career so far. It is that spell, far more than the latter part of last season, that the Blues will point to in justifying a £70 million valuation for a player who, when everyone is fit, is only Reece James’ understudy.

With none of the other Big Six clubs possessing a top-class goalkeeper — or even a competent one — who might realistically be available, Chelsea are instead left looking at their rivals for a midfielder.

The Spain star Martin Zubimendi is likely to slide down Arsenal’s pecking order following the arrival of Bruno Guimaraes, while Xabi Alonso appears more inclined to give the World Cup winner the important role he deserves alongside Moises Caicedo at the base of his midfield.

Lewis-Skelly has already been sent to Manchester United in this exercise and, naturally, there is no realistic chance of Arsenal selling both him and Zubimendi. But one of them would probably be obtainable.

If the reports are accurate, the number required to persuade Arsenal to sell is roughly £77 million, which would more than recoup the money they spent on Guimaraes.