It’s being reported this evening that there will be a significant change to the summer transfer window from next year.
Rather than running until the end of August, the window will close before the start of the new season, meaning clubs will go into each campaign without the many distractions that the transfer market creates.
At the moment Arsenal are trying to move on a clutch of players before doing any more business, and the nature of the market means that lots of business is done in the final weeks.
It’s expected that the new rules will be approved with the majority of clubs in favour of the new system. It will still mean there’s a deadline but it’s one that will provide clarity ahead of each season.
It’s something that Arsene Wenger has long been in favour of, saying in 2015, “Does it bother me the window is still open? Yes, because it creates uncertainties
“At the start of the season everybody should be committed, not half-in, half-out.”
It will also mean transfer business will be condensed, but this is a good idea and something that should have been implemented a long time ago.
Does this mean we will actually do business early as well? *gasp*
Kolasinac aside?
Great in many way, really bad in others. As it isn’t European wide we can’t buy from foreign clubs when someone comes up early like Ozil did. We would just sit there drooling while another European club could pick him up. Plus what happens if someone like Barca comes in for one of our players and they demand to move or it rocks the boat, we wouldn’t be able to replace him and could be proper fucked. Needs to be for all of Europe or not at all imo. There will still be uncertainty, it just may be worse as… Read more »
There should be no in AND out, not just no in only. After 31 July or 1 August, there will be no more player movement between clubs so any players who are still with the club after that date should sit still and play on with the club.
If players can still go out to European clubs after that date, then, we’re f-ed.
I don’t think it will affect PL teams in the way that you are suggesting. There’s so much £ sloshing around in PL that players don’t want to leave to European clubs, apart from obviously if Barca, RM, Bayern come knocking.. but even so, PL teams are proving that they won’t sell even for ludicrous fees (e.g. Courtino)or they look else where when hearing their wage demands (e.g. Alexis with Bayern). @blogs would love to read/ hear from an economist on the current state of money within transfers and what the possible future entails. Maybe Swiss ramble guest on the… Read more »
Cue, Arsene Wenger Hawking!
I second this, though as a physicist I’m not sure what I’d add to the conversation.
This may lead to even further inflation in prices for English clubs esp when buying from abroad due to even more time pressure.
Exactly
Finally. Will make it harder for players/agents to make themselves impossible and forcing moves.
How? Why?
Less time to bitch.
It will be just English clubs that can’t buy after the deadline. So not sure it will really help that much unless the other leagues will end theirs at the same time.
A lot of the reason teams leave it till late is to maximize the pressure on people to increase the bid–yeah, you might get your man for £35 million eventually, but if you throw in a few extra million you’ll have to wait, and who knows what will happen in the transfer window… Except this won’t work the same if English money is taken out of the transfer market by the beginning of the EPL season. Prices will go DOWN as City, Chelsea and the like are no longer plausible 3rd parties to threaten the deal with. I imagine this… Read more »
Condensed is in the eye of the beholder.
I’m just saying if it’s shorter, it’s good for us as fans because we don’t go 3 weeks into the season looking forward to “transfer deadline day”. it would have already been done and we are focusing on the season.
Bad for clubs because it crunches the time.
Eye of the beholder.
That was a great video game back in the day!
Excellent news! No longer will billionaire backed clubs bully other clubs at the start of the season.
Only fully committed players will be there and focusing on football not contract matters.
June 1st to July 31st should be when the window is open. 2 months is enough.
Except it starts on July 1st
Correct, but clubs shouldn’t be picking targets on July 1st. They should already have them in mind from the previous season’s failings.
Its as simple. A lot permutations and combinations go into selecting players. A lot depends on thr movement of players amongst all teams before, a particular team makes a move.
It’s not as simple.*
For England, buying players based out of England, it opens as soon as the last EPL/championship match is played, though the transfer is usually not made official until July 1 since that is the start of the contract year. When buying players based in the continent the date is technically June 9, though because it’s June 1 in France, Italy, Spain, and Germany, this date is more accurate–English teams just wait around a week to do the squad registration.
Awesome news! And about bloody time!
Is it a European wide thing? Or just an English thing? Don’t want Barca coming in stealing players when we can’t replace them
If the English transfer window has closed wouldn’t that mean that all European clubs would no longer be able to buy players from English clubs?
No. It would mean that English clubs are not able to sign players but they would still be able to sell abroad. Transfer window has to be open only in the buyer’s country/league.
Is this true, necessarily? The EPL has to validate a change of registration of the player (as does any other league in question); they could just refuse to do this after the season has started.
Is this just in England or across Europe though?
Just England
woo hoo
Thank god….. finally a bit of common sense.
Interesting to start this on a World Cup year… it is much more problematic to complete sales in a WC year.
Yep, you’ll have to take more of a chance on injured/unfit players in World Cup or European Cup years. Could mean more buying of lemons ….and buying lemons at the stupidly inflated prices we are paying. Buy a lemon. See out his massive contract. Move him on for free at the end of it. Isn’t that one of the things Gooners tend to get really angry about when it happens? Expect this new window rule to increase the level of “deadwood” in the squad (as Grumpy Gooners call our occasional long-term crocked players). This will make many Grumpy Gooners even… Read more »
Good news. Hopefully this will give the club the kick up the backside it needs to have the squad prepared for the start of the season and have all the transfer business sorted unlike this and many other years.
…but the way the market works EVERY summer, with little happening until the last two days, you won’t even know your squad until the night before the start of the season. How is that going to make for better preparation?
I take your point, but this year we won’t know our squad until after the third or fourth game (can’t be arsed to look it up). Surely the current arrangement is worse?
Ideally you’d have a window that gave you a few weeks to work with your squad before the season started, but something like that would mean starting the window earlier which would itself be a rubbish idea tbh because different leagues end the season at different times, and two out of every four summers would mean few transfers for top players because of international tournaments.
Whole thing is bollocks really, anything that means less of it can only be a good thing
Personally I would open the European window on 1 June and then close it in 1 August. That gives clubs two months to complete deals while giving enough time before the start of a season for a club to relatively settled before the first game.
This should also reduce the amount of ‘sagas’ we have to endure each window.
Really good thinking! I like your idea Glocken.
Thank you Paula, I have my moments! ?
Ive been thinking about defensive midfielders we can sign and am wondering why no one wants PSG’s Krychowiak, surely if Alexis wants to leave we could try and get him in the deal too. Am i the only guy on here that rates him highly and thinks he could be a good fit for the club?
It will be good to see this enforced across all European leagues
It’s an English thing only. You can’t enforce it throughout Europe any more than Jurgen Klopp could enforce making the US economy use the deutsche mark instead of the dollar.
European clubs will be able to hold PL clubs to ransom with the spectre of a few more weeks of transfer window in Europe meaning they have plenty of time to find alternative buyers for the players they are willing to sell.
It will become even harder for PL teams to sell the “deadwood” to a European Club.
Don’t you think European clubs don’t want our deadwood anyway? Why would they!
Finally all teams will finish the preparation before the start of the season, no more signing in the end of august
Great in some ways, & hopelessly bad in others.
Yes it means clubs will go into each campaign without the many distractions that the transfer market creates. But if we can’t find a way to get key members of the squad to actually commit to signing new contracts, then it really doesn’t matter when it ends. We’ve been hopeless at contracts for far too long now, & that’s really what needs to change within the club.
About time! That has been my biggest pet hate in football.
Now I can focus on something different to moan about.
Arsene being prescient again! Maybe we should take more seriously his view that clubs may let players run out of contract and pick up players on free transfers?
This will be useless unless it’s Europe wide. What’s to stop Spanish, German & Italain clubs unsettling Premier League players once the English window has closed?
I would imagine when the English window closes that it applies to all inbound and outbound players, meaning other European clubs would know players from the English league are no longer available?
Unlikely, the transfer windows are set by each federation and only refer to the buying of players. For example, during the winter the Italian window closed an hour before England’s yet Southampton & Leicester both signed players from Serie A sides after their window had shut. And that’s only an hour! 31st August & 31st Jan have become the norm across the major European leagues in part due to Uefa’s own registration deadlines. Given how early Champions League and Europa qualifying starts, and that all major leagues kick off in August (bar Russia’s mid-late July), a Europe wide 1st June… Read more »
I think it’s great news and the rest of Europe will eventually adopt this deadline
Would love to see all leagues go to a July 31 transfer deadline so new players are in before the season starts and clubs (and fans) know that their team is set as the season is about to begin.
Its scandalous that a team can sign a player after the season has started – all teams should start the season with definitive squads rather than playing a couple of pony games (gifting certain teams 3 points) then improve their squads days later!! How is that fair on the other teams that now have to play a tougher opponent?
Thank God. Long time coming. This is a very good change.
Business early? Kolasinac? Last Season Granit? Podolski some years back Some people just buy into media spouted nonsense so easily. We do business when we can. Truth is there is a reason why the transfers concentrate toward the end. Firstly it pays to have the top predators feast/commit. That is one less rival to content with. Case in point Ozil. He could have gone to 6 or 7 clubs in Europe who could afford to pay more than us. We got him in late because Madrid had to finish on Bale. The fact that he was not on any other… Read more »
As far as early conclusion to window is concern, it is obviously beneficial.
I never understood why it wasn’t compressed in the first place instead they wanted it to drag on past start of season. Makes absolutely no sense.
In fact, I would think it wise to maybe even just limit the whole business to a month.
All these contracts can be done quick, they just drag on because they are allowed to and the parties see benefit to sweat out the negotiations because they can.
How does that stop a player refusing to train, Diego Costa style, so he can get his move to a non-English club ?
This will give even more advantage to other european teams in a lot of ways. If it will be same for all clubs in europe then good. If not, no please.