Raphael Varane will miss Manchester United’s opening Premier League game against Leeds on Saturday as the deal is not “100% done yet”.
United reached an agreement with Real Madrid for Varane on 27 July.
The France defender, 28, is in Manchester but missed Friday’s league deadline to register him for the weekend because of quarantine rules.
“Things happen and things take time. It’ll be done soon,” said United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
“Unfortunately with the isolation that delayed these things.”
The UK government’s coronavirus travel rules require people arriving from certain countries to spend a period in isolation.
Solskjaer said the transfer was still be completed.
He said: “It’s not 100% done yet. He’s not trained with us and we haven’t put all the dots over the i’s and crossed the t’s yet.”
Edinson Cavani, Eric Bailly and Amad Diallo are also not available for Saturday’s match.
“Edi is in the country,” Solskjaer said. “He’s just finishing off his isolation period. He’s had a little bit of extra time for personal reasons.
“Eric and Amad are also in the country waiting to get the all-clear to join the team again.
“They’ve had a very exciting summer of course, been in the Olympics and played games before that as well, so they should be fit before they come.”