Ah, Black Friday - the worst US import since, well... you pick.
Traditionally a post-Thanksgiving version of the UK's January sales, it's a time when shops aim to simultaneously quench the public's rabid thirst for bargains while hawking of all their unwanted pre-Christmas stock.
And all that can lead to some illogical and irrational purchases being made.
You don't really like them, they're not even in your size but at 80% off, you never know, you might just need that pair of angler's waders one day.
Just ask Jimmy Bullard.
Football's has it's very own bi-annual Black Friday bonanza.
During football's feted transfer windows, the beautiful game world goes similarly sales-obsessed, with clubs splashing out on the players they think will inject life into their stuttering seasons.
But it's ever-harder to find a good deal these days, so before clubs splurge £40m on bringing Darius Vassell out of retirement, they should check out our list of great football bargains for inspiration.
Eric Cantona: Leeds United to Manchester United - £1.2m (November 1992)
Getty Images
This deal was the stuff of legends. The charismatic Frenchman had helped Leeds beat Manchester United to the title in 1992, but when the Yorkshire club rang Manchester United to see if they could buy full-back Dennis Irwin, they made a big mistake.
Not only did they end up without Irwin, but they also lost Cantona, who Sir Alex Ferguson managed to prise away from Elland Road for a meagre £1.2m.
At Old Trafford, Cantona became the Premier League’s first superstar – half genius, half bad boy. Cantona helped United to four Premier League titles and two FA Cups in five years.
No wonder they still call him ‘The King’.
Riyad Mahrez: Le Havre to Leicester City - £400,000 (January 2014)
Getty Images
Leicester City scouts went to Le Havre to watch striker Ryan Mendes, but it was wafer-thin winger Riyad Mahrez who they ended up signing in January 2014 for a tiny £400,000.
Over the next 18 months, Mahrez played a supporting role in the Foxes’ promotion from the Championship and the Premier League’s greatest ever escape from relegation the season after.
However, the lightweight Algerian went several steps further in the 2015-16 season, winning PFA Player of the Year as Leicester’s key creative force as the Foxes pulled off football’s greatest ever underdog story to win the Premier League.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer: Molde to Manchester United - £1.5m (July 1996)
Getty Images
In the summer of 1996, Manchester United were looking for a striker. They tried to get Alan Shearer, but Newcastle offered Blackburn £15 million and were his boyhood team – so no chance.
So instead, United picked up an angel-faced 23-year-old that nobody outside Norway had heard of.
Solskjaer was expected to be a bit-part back-up striker, but his clinical finishing quickly earned him a reputation as a super-sub - once coming off the bench to score four against Nottingham Forest.
Nicknamed ‘The Baby-faced Assassin,’ Solskjaer turned down moves to clubs where he would have got more starts in order to help United win trophies from the bench.
In 11 seasons at Old Trafford, he scored more than 100 goals. He won six Premier League titles, two FA cups, and scored the winner – from the bench obviously - in the 1999 Champions League final.
Raul: Atletico Madrid to Real Madrid - Free (1992)
Getty iMAGES
In 1992, Atletico Madrid’s club president of the time, Jesus Gil, decided to close the club’s youth academy in order to save money. He didn’t count on a 15-year-old called Raul Gonzales Blanco.
Raul was picked up by Atleti’s city rivals Real Madrid, and two years later (aged just 17) made his debut for the Real first team.
Raul would go on to become one of the club’s all-time greats, scoring 323 goals to help Los Blancos to six La Liga titles and three Uefa Champions League crowns.
He cost them nothing.
Patrick Vieira: AC Milan to Arsenal - £3.5m (September 1996)
Getty Images
Arsenal plucked the giant midfielder Vieira from AC Milan’s reserves, a matter of weeks before fellow Frenchman Arsene Wenger joined the club as manager. Together, the two would lead Arsenal’s French revolution.
Vieira’s supreme strength and power in the middle of the park gave the Gunners a fearsome edge, and his legendary battles with Manchester United captain Roy Keane epitomised the rivalry that dominated English football at the turn of the century.
Vieira won three Premier League titles and four FA Cups at Arsenal, but his greatest achievement was captaining ‘The Invincibles’ through the whole 2003-4 league season unbeaten.
Andrea Pirlo: AC Milan to Juventus – Free (July 2011)
Getty Images
After a decade of superb service at Italian giants AC Milan - featuring two Serie A and two Champions League titles - club bosses decided Andrea Pirlo, still only 32, wasn’t needed anymore.
Juventus boss Antonio Conte (now at Chelsea) picked up the out-of-contract World Cup winner for nothing and never looked back. Juve would win the league title in each of the next four seasons, with ‘The Architect’ pulling the strings from midfield.
As legendary Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon put it: “When Andrea told me that he was joining us, the first thing I thought was: 'God exists'. A player of his level and ability, not to mention that he was free, I think it was the signing of the century!”
Peter Schmeichel: Brondby to Manchester United – £500,000 (September 1991)
Getty Images
Sir Alex Ferguson described his signing of giant Danish goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel as “the bargain of the century.”
In eight seasons at Man United, he won five Premier League titles, three FA Cups, one League Cup and the Champions League.
A huge presence between the sticks at Old Trafford, the Great Dane achieved a fearsome reputation and would go down as one of the game’s all-time great goalkeepers.
After Schmeichel left in 1999, it took Ferguson six years to find a worthy replacement, and the Dane is obviously made of some decent goalkeeping DNA - his son Kasper won the Premier League with Leicester in 2016.
