The Manchester clubs laid down a marker yesterday with the signings of Paul Pogba and John Stones for a combined fee of £140 million.

United finally completed the deal for Pogba in the early hours of the morning for a world record fee of £89m, which could rise to over £100m.

Hours later, in a bizarre fashion, City announced a £47m deal for Stones from Everton. Uefa had released City’s Champions League squad with Stones listed as a defender before the club had announced the transfer.

The deal then sparked a merry-go round of signings, with Everton spending £12m on Stones’s replacement in Ashley Williams from Swansea and the Swans then picking up Atletico Madrid striker Borja Baston for a club-record fee.

Pogba, who got the ball rolling with his return to United after a four-year spell in Italy with Juventus, said it was like being on holiday.

“There’s no words, to be honest, there’s no words,” he said. “I just came back to Carrington. It was like I’d just come back home. I just went for a holiday, looks like I went for a holiday. I’ve come back home, I’m happy and I see everyone, the same persons. It’s just a great feeling, to be honest.”

For Stones, it completes a remarkable 2016 for the English defender. From being one of the country’s hotest prospects, he found himself on the fringes of the first team at Goodison Park and failed to dislodge Gary Cahill and Chris Smalling at Euro 2016.

However, he will now be playing under Pep Guardiola at City where he will challenge for the title.

“I just rang my mum and all of the family and said: ‘I can’t believe that I’m here, playing for such a big club, the best manager in the world.’ It just all seems so surreal,” Stones said.

“It will take me a few weeks to settle in and get my head around everything but I’m super excited.”