Manchester United, Milan and Paris Saint-Germain are among the major European outfits who are due to farewell high-profile players when free agency comes into force on June 30.
Domestic leagues across the world appear increasingly likely to run beyond that deadline, meaning sides up and down the divisions could be forced to renegotiate deals beyond the typical expiry date.
It remains to be seen how governing bodies will approach the unfamiliar territory but Edinson Cavani, Mario Gotze and Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be watching closely like dozens more across Europe's top five leagues.
These are the stars and solid supporting cast members whose contract situations are worth monitoring in England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
LaLiga
Athletic Bilbao: Aritz Aduriz (retiring), Benat, Mikel San Jose
Atletico Madrid: Antonio Adan
Espanyol: Ander Iturraspe
Granada: Roberto Soldado
Real Valladolid: Hatem Ben Arfa
Sevilla: Ever Banega (joining Al Shabab at end of contract), Nolito
Valencia: Ezequiel Garay
Villarreal: Santi Cazorla
Premier League
Bournemouth: Ryan Fraser
Burnley: Joe Hart
Chelsea: Olivier Giroud, Pedro, Willian
Liverpool: Adam Lallana, Nathaniel Clyne
Manchester City: David Silva (confirmed he will leave at end of contract)
Manchester United: Nemanja Matic, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Odion Ighalo (loan ends)
Newcastle United: Matty Longstaff
Tottenham: Jan Vertonghen, Japhet Tanganga
Serie A
Atalanta: Jose Luis Palomino
Hellas Verona: Fabio Borini
Inter: Ashley Young
Juventus: Gianluigi Buffon
Milan: Lucas Biglia, Giacomo Bonaventura, Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Napoli: Jose Callejon, Dries Mertens
Bundesliga
Bayer Leverkusen: Charles Aranguiz
Borussia Dortmund: Mario Gotze, Lukasz Piszczek
Hertha Berlin: Salomon Kalou
Schalke: Benjamin Stambouli
Wolfsburg: Robin Knoche
Ligue 1
Lille: Loic Remy
Monaco: Jemerson
Nice: Walter Benitez, Arnaud Lusamba
Paris Saint-Germain: Edinson Cavani, Thomas Meunier, Tanguy Kouassi, Layvin Kurzawa, Thiago Silva
Competitions including the Premier League, the NBA and Formula One were off as sport attempts to combat the spread of the virus.
There have been over 160,000 confirmed cases and more than 6,000 deaths worldwide.
Without work to keep them busy, athletes were finding other ways to entertain themselves - and often posting evidence online.
Tyson Fury would not have been in boxing action this weekend, as it is just weeks since his stunning world heavyweight title defeat of Deontay Wilder, but he was still impacted by coronavirus.
The Briton had been set to run the Liverpool Half Marathon but was advised not to, amid the crisis.
That did little to stop Fury, though, who continued with the run at home instead, dressed as Batman with strength and conditioning coach Kristian Blacklock as his sidekick Robin.
In the United States, Giannis Antetokounmpo has been vocal in bemoaning his boredom while the NBA is paused, but the world received evidence of how he has been using his time.
The Greek Freak's girlfriend uploaded a video of the reigning MVP playing Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water on guitar, and the Milwaukee Bucks ace replied: "If anyone wants a guitarist for their group, I'm free. Inbox me for booking."
Elsewhere, Liverpool midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain stayed active this weekend.
His popstar girlfriend Perrie Edwards - a member of Little Mix - posted a video of the pair dancing at home with the caption: "Precautionary self isolation can be fun!"
Football's most famous popstar WAG had also featured in a social media post on Saturday.
David Beckham had been anticipating Inter Miami's first home match against his former club LA Galaxy before the 2020 MLS season was suspended.
Beckham instead took his family to see his expansion club's stadium, though, and wife Victoria was enjoying herself as the tannoy blasted out Spice Girls songs.
Robert Lewandowski and Gabriel Jesus shared clips of their workouts, but Dries Mertens' was a little different.
The Napoli star was filmed lifting a giant wine bottle in his exercises, posting the video with the caption: "My greatest advice in life, 'A little bit of wine is the solution to a lot of problems'."
And Barcelona B midfielder Riqui Puig joined a campaign to keep people in their homes in Spain, skilfully juggling toilet roll in an apparent reference to the stockpiling prompted by the virus.
Denmark entered Saturday's Group A2 opener unbeaten in 15 matches since September 2018 but were undone at the Parken Stadium by goals in either half.
Denayer profited from some slack defending to convert Mertens' corner inside nine minutes and the hosts, who will face Belgium in next year's rescheduled Euro 2020, never truly recovered.
Mertens made certain of the win 14 minutes from time as Belgium - now beaten in just two of their last 43 matches - moved level on points with England after the first round of fixtures.
The Belgium forward's nine-year stay at the Serie A club came to an end following the 2021-22 season after he rejected the offer of a new contract.
Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis previously said Mertens turned down the offer of a new deal because he wanted more money, telling Radio Kiss Kiss: "I presented him with €4million per season gross and he refused.
"So I said thank you very much... I need to have money to buy young players who can represent Napoli in future seasons."
In a message posted to his social media on Wednesday, Mertens said: "Dear Neapolitans, I knew this day would eventually come, but I didn't know how difficult it would be to say goodbye."
He also went on to praise the city of Naples for "adopting" him, pointing out that his son Ciro, who features in the video with him, was born in the city.
The former PSV man added: "I did not leave as I would have liked" before finishing with: "this is not farewell, only goodbye."
The Partenopei have seen Lorenzo Insigne, David Ospina, Kalidou Koulibaly and Arkadiusz Milik also depart during this transfer window, with Mertens leaving as the club's record goalscorer with 148 goals.
He scored 11 times in 30 Serie A games last season, with his 126 minutes per goal the fourth-best return of any player in the Italian top flight to have netted at least 10 times.
Mertens, who has been linked with Inter, Juventus and Marseille, made 397 appearances for Napoli in all, placing him behind Insigne (434), Antonio Juliano (505), Giuseppe Bruscolotti (511) and Marek Hamsik (520).
For footballers in Europe's top-five leagues - all of which have been postponed until at least early April - this is a good moment to look back on the season to date, assess what has gone right and wrong, and maybe put in a few hours on the treadmill at home.
There are some who have a little more to ponder than others.
Using Opta data, we've taken a look at some of the worst-performing players in their respective positions. Here, we examine those all-important personal-glory-hunters: the goalscorers.
We've analysed six key metrics when it comes to underperforming as a forward: shots off target, shooting accuracy, shot conversion rate, headed shots off target, big chance conversion rate and minutes per goal.
To make things more balanced, we've imposed some cut-off points, which are shown in the results below. These players have also been picked from those to make at least 10 league appearances this season, to make things a little fairer on those trying to mark a rare outing with a goal (here's looking at you, Phil Jones).
THE WORST ATTACKING STATS IN EUROPE'S TOP-FIVE LEAGUES 2019-20
BUNDESLIGA:
Most shots off target (Min. 30 shots): Robert Lewandowski(37)
Worst shooting accuracy (Min. 30 shots): Guido Burgstaller (32.14 per cent)
Worst shot conversion rate (Min. one goal scored): Matheus Cunha (7.14 per cent)
Most headed shots off target (Min. 5 shots): Wout Weghorst (16)
Worst big chance conversion rate (Min. 5 big chances): Guido Bergstaller(0 per cent, from 5)
Most minutes per goal: Robert Skov (624.33)
LALIGA:
Most shots off target (Min. 30 shots): Karim Benzema (40)
Worst shooting accuracy (Min. 30 shots): Jonathan Calleri(33.33 per cent)
Worst shot conversion rate (Min. one goal scored): Jonathan Calleri(3.33 per cent)
Most headed shots off target (Min. 5 shots): Joselu (15)
Worst big chance conversion rate (Min. 5 big chances): Sandro Ramirez (0 per cent, from 5)
Most minutes per goal: Jonathan Calleri (1362)
LIGUE 1:
Most shots off target (Min. 30 shots): Victor Osimhen (38)
Worst shooting accuracy (Min. 30 shots): Casimir Ninga (28 per cent)
Worst shot conversion rate (Min. one goal scored): Jonathan Bamba (2.7 per cent)
Most headed shots off target (Min. 5 shots): Victor Osimhen (14)
Worst big chance conversion rate (Min. 5 big chances): Kalifa Coulibaly (0 per cent, from 9)
Most minutes per goal: Jonathan Bamba (1941)
PREMIER LEAGUE:
Most shots off target (Min. 30 shots): Raul Jimenez (40)
Worst shooting accuracy (Min. 30 shots): Joelinton(36.36 per cent)
Worst shot conversion rate (Min. one goal scored): Joelinton(3.03 per cent)
Most headed shots off target (Min. 5 shots): Sebastien Haller (14)
Worst big chance conversion rate (Min. 5 big chances): David McGoldrick (0 per cent, from 15)
Most minutes per goal: Joelinton(2237)
SERIE A:
Most shots off target (Min. 30 shots): Cristiano Ronaldo (40)
Worst shooting accuracy (Min. 30 shots): Dries Mertens(33.33 per cent)
Worst shot conversion rate (Min. one goal scored): Suso(4.35 per cent)
Most headed shots off target (Min. 5 shots): Edin Dzeko (19)
Worst big chance conversion rate (Min. 5 big chances): Dries Mertens (16.67 per cent, from 6)
Most minutes per goal: Suso(1361)
AND THE TOP SIX:
Most shots off target (Min. 30 shots): Raul Jimenez (40)
Worst shooting accuracy (Min. 30 shots): Casimir Ninga (28 per cent)
Worst shot conversion rate (Min. one goal scored): Jonathan Bamba (2.7 per cent)
Most headed shots off target (Min. 5 shots): Edin Dzeko (19)
Worst big chance conversion rate (Min. 5 big chances): David McGoldrick (0 per cent, from 15)
Most minutes per goal: Joelinton (2237)
According to reports, LaLiga giants Barcelona are eager to take winger Willian to Camp Nou before the January transfer window closes on Friday.
The experienced Brazilian has been with Chelsea since 2013, but his contract is due to expire at the end of the season.
TOP STORY - BARCA WANT WILLIAN
Barcelona will test Chelsea's resolve with a late €23.6million (£20m) offer for Willian, Sky Sports have reported.
The Blaugrana are said to be are "long-term admirers" of the 31-year-old and hope to have him on board for the remainder of their title battle against Real Madrid.
Willian could leave Stamford Bridge on a free at the end of June if Chelsea choose not to cash in now.
Frank Lampard last month said contract talks were ongoing with the former Shakhtar Donetsk attacker, but he has not yet agreed a new deal.
ROUND-UP
- News of Barca's approach comes amid suggestions they have had an eye-watering €100m (£85m) offer for Richarlison rejected by Everton, rumours the Mirror indicates have been laughed off at Goodison Park.
- Chelsea, however, could be preparing their Willian replacement. According to the Daily Mail, the Premier League top-four aspirants are looking to sign 32-year-old Napoli forward Dries Mertens for a cut-price £6m fee.
- Barca, meanwhile, are trying to find a new home for Philippe Coutinho after learning Bayern Munich will not activate their €120m option to buy the on-loan playmaker, say Catalunya Radio.
- England international Danny Rose will spend the remainder of the season at Newcastle United after Tottenham accepted a £2m loan fee for the left-back, claim the Guardian.
- Bundesliga outfit Borussia Dortmund must improve their bid from €22m to €30m to convince Serie A champions Juventus to part with midfielder Emre Can, claim CalcioMercato.
