Premier League clubs to discuss earlier transfer deadline

Tuesday, 15 August, 2017 13comments | Jump to most recent

The top flight's 20 teams are to consider a proposal to end the movement of incoming players before the start of the Premier League season in a bid to end the perceived disruption of the end-of-August transfer deadline.

Representatives of each club will discuss the measure at next month's shareholders meeting, with the possibility that the transfer window could close prior to the start of the 2018-19 campaign.

Everton boss Ronald Koeman publicly advocated for moving the transfer deadline over the weekend and there is believed to be broad support for the idea, although Watford are one club known to oppose it.

Changes to Premier League rules of this magnitude require a 14-vote majority.

Reader Comments (13)

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Gordon White
1 Posted 15/08/2017 at 18:56:56

Would make sense. Can't see why Watford would oppose it?

Eric Paul
2 Posted 15/08/2017 at 19:02:45

Would this also apply to Harry Redknapp?

Tony Everan
3 Posted 15/08/2017 at 19:47:06

Watford opposing it because they get 20 players and a new manager every 6 months.

Colin Glassar
4 Posted 15/08/2017 at 19:51:14

Money grabbing, scumbag agents will go mental over this.

I've been advocating this for years. The transfer window should open the day after the CL final and close on August 1st. Two and a half months to do your deals. Maybe a week or so later to accommodate the rest of Europe and that's it.

Chris Williams
5 Posted 15/08/2017 at 19:55:13

Don't the owners of Watford have an interest in a European club? If we change our transfer window, we could end up out of synch with the European leagues, jeopardising the movement of the 20 players mentioned above.

Brian Wilkinson
6 Posted 15/08/2017 at 22:14:32

Some leagues start different to others, Colin's spot on with August 1st window shuts, fair on every European team open the window earlier say June 1st giving clubs 2 months to get their business done, only hinderence I can see is a Euro or World Cup year.

Ray Robinson
7 Posted 15/08/2017 at 22:22:41

This proposal has many merits but as the European window would still end 3 weeks later, how would e.g. Liverpool react if Barcelona signed Coutinho and then had no possibility of signing a replacement?

Karl Masters
8 Posted 16/08/2017 at 02:40:07

The only people likely to oppose this are ones that wear garish yellow Watford and those tossers on Sky who wear yellow ties, dresses and sweaters on deadline day.

Jim White will be on his hotline to Moshiri crying his eyes out! Their thunder will be stolen by the season itself starting, rather than this circus disrupting the first few months of very season as players have to bed in at clubs with the season already underway.

I'd be prepared to Skybet that Sky manage to get this idea blocked.

Ste Traverse
9 Posted 16/08/2017 at 13:15:22

Just get rid of the transfer window full stop. It's restraint of trade. Plus I used to like that shock mid-season transfer you sometimes used to get in the Premier League.

I'd go back to what it was pre-2002 when transfer deadline day was in late March.

Dennis Stevens
10 Posted 16/08/2017 at 22:44:19

Hear! Hear! It all worked just fine in the '70s!

Jay Wood
11 Posted 16/08/2017 at 22:57:03

Agree with Ste @ 9.

This closed window malarkey is quite a recent 'initiative.'

Under the old system the window opened early summer and didn't close again until mid-March. This gave the clubs (and players) 9 months year round to make transfers.

It also allowed clubs fighting for titles or against relegation the opportunity to reinforce their squad, particularly for the final run-in.

The two small windows of opportunity that now exists is, IMO, far more detrimental in terms of disruption to teams and players and in the inflated fees paid.

There would not be the sense of urgency to get deals done in summer or January and fees would be more 'reasonable' than the hyper-inflated fees we continue to see.

Nor do I see a just cause for the media to oppose it (as Karl muses @ 8). They love and feed off transfer rumours and the headline stories of any deal.

Phil (Kelsall) Roberts
12 Posted 17/08/2017 at 17:27:48

One issue of the early closure is - that for this year are Everton and Liverpool attractive as they are still not guaranteed to be in Europe (OK the latter will fall into the Europa League but not Champions League). Will players not come because there is no guarantee of European Football which would be the case of the Merseyside clubs. Come 25th August, we will both know and more expensive European players be more willing to sign for clubs definitely playing in Europe.

Colin Glassar
13 Posted 18/08/2017 at 07:59:27

Martin Samuel (daily fail) having a rant in his rag about how stupid this, in his esteemed opinion, would be. It would certainly limit the amount of time his paper, and others, dedicate to making up shite.

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