Premier League vote to close transfer window before the start of 18/19 season

[The Andy Naylor Fan Club]

BREAKING Premier League clubs vote to close window early

Richard Conway
BBC Radio 5 live sports news correspondent
Premier League to amend summer transfer window, starting 2018/19. Window to now close 1700 on Thursday before start of season.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/football/41185723
Comment @ 14.17

 

[Jimmehh]

Won't affect us jk I hope it does...

Wonder if we'll get that elusive striker lol

 

[Nathan]

Makes sense, but we do need the rest of Europe to do the same otherwise it could be a little pointless.

 

[Tooting Gull]

If it's as initially reported, no buying after season starts, but can still sell - sounds a bit of a mess. The biggest moan from Prem Lg clubs this time was the uncertainty caused over players who might leave. That will still happen, only with no chance of replacing them?

Update: Already seem to now be saying it is buying and selling. Which is better, just the European angle to consider.

 

[Tooting Gull]

There are going to be people unhappy about the fact you can still have players unsettled and sold to clubs in other leagues after the start of the season.

But thinking about it in practice, isn't this going to be restricted to the very rare cases of a huge star targeted by PSG, Barcelona or Real Madrid (eg a Coutinho, or maybe a Hazard)?

If you look at other big cases (Van Dijk, Sigurdsson) that caused uncertainty this summer, that will no longer happen between PL clubs during August. And given we pay the highest wages, in about 97 per cent of cases deals will either not happen (between PL clubs), or PL clubs should be able to hold off bids from all but the super-clubs.

 

[The_Viper]

Good news all around that, this will enable us to get those offshoot PL players that aren't wanted at their clubs in early so we can be fully prepared for another 46 game marathon.

 

[The Andy Naylor Fan Club]

Update on the story..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41188235

Premier League clubs have voted to close next summer's transfer window before the 2018-19 season starts.

Managers have complained that allowing players to move once the season is under way causes disruption to their squads and preparations.

From next season, the window will close at 17:00 BST on the Thursday before the Premier League campaign begins.

The vote was not unanimous and clubs will still be able to sell players until the end of the normal window.

The window across Europe runs until 31 August.

The Premier League's move means while clubs will be able to sell until that date, buying activity will cease on 9 August for the 2018-19 season.

European leagues will still be able to buy and sell until 31 August, while the Football League's window also remains unaltered.

Football League bosses have indicated they could follow the Premier League's move but require further dialogue with stakeholders before a decision is made.

The number of Premier League clubs who wanted the change is not yet clear, but at least 14 of the 20 must have voted for the move in order for a change to take place.

The early finish will not mean the Premier League's transfer window is shorter as it will start earlier and be 12 weeks long, in line with Fifa rules.

In August, Tottenham striker Harry Kane said closing the window early would allow players to concentrate.

His views were echoed on Friday by Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, who stated players need "clarity".

"It's important that we close all that stuff before the championship starts," said Wenger. "Players have no clarity. Are they in? Are they out? Will they be tapped up on the afternoon of a game? It's not the way to work."

Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson also said the window should be closed early when he was asked about Barcelona's bids for Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho.

Speaking before Thursday's announcement, Everton manager Ronald Koeman said he hoped the rest of Europe would follow the move.

"If we do it in the Premier League and the rest of Europe don't do this, still we have a problem," said Koeman. "The best is before starting the competitions, stop the transfer window because it's very silly."

Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho stressed the fact European clubs would have a wider opportunity to do business would not be a disadvantage for English clubs.

"The risk is minimal and even those powerful clubs have to know if we can't buy players we're not going to sell," said Mourinho.

 

[nicko31]

Makes sense, but we do need the rest of Europe to do the same otherwise it could be a little pointless.

Indeed, otherwise surely we'll be at a disadvantage.

 

[Giraffe]

A few things.

As others have said how this can possibly be better IF the rest of Europe does not follow suit, which I am sure they wont know because they will have a clear advantage over English clubs in European competition.

They do realise the world cup doesn't finish until July 15th? So there will be a tiny window after this to get deals done.

I agree with the principal wholeheartedly but surely it had to be done alongside the rest of Europe and starting in World Cup year seems odd.

 

[Easy 10]

Just shifts the problem to a different date as far as I'm concerned. The brinkmanship will now just transfer from 31st Aug to the eve of the season for PL clubs. Add in the fact that this rule does NOTHING to stop other clubs in Europe from making offers and unsettling PL players right up till the window closes a few weeks later, and I don't really see what PL clubs have gained out of this. Sure, domestically it'll stop the trading after the season starts, but it wouldn't have prevented (for example) the Coutinho-to-Barca saga from dragging on and on till deadline day.

This solves nothing IMO, just shifts the problem elsewhere in the calendar and brings some other logistical complications into play.

 

[Pretty Plnk Fairy]

Any less time for the rodneys to go into melt centeral over over priced foriegners fine by me. should sign more english anyways

Regards
DR

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

This is great. So what if European clubs can still buy, how many players were actually sold overseas this window? very few, just the cast-offs really. I assume the EFL will come in line too.

I wouldn't be surprised if this change is quickly adopted across Europe, the rationale behind doing it applies irrespective of country or league

 

[Seagull73]

This is great. So what if European clubs can still buy, how many players were actually sold overseas this window? very few, just the cast-offs really. I assume the EFL will come in line too.

I wouldn't be surprised if this change is quickly adopted across Europe, the rationale behind doing it applies irrespective of country or league

Absolutely agreed - if anything, I think European clubs will find it even harder to sign players from England after the English window shuts because of the inability for PL clubs to replace. For me, it makes very little difference, and as a result, I do expect the EFL and the rest of Europe to follow suit pretty quickly.

 

[bhafc99]

"It's important we close all that stuff before the championship starts" said Wenger.

Have the Arse already resigned themselves to relegation then?

 

[Pavilionaire]

Good luck to the Play-Off Winning Championship team on having just 10 weeks to assemble a Prem-standard squad.

In addition, how many players and their agents will be doing the legwork for a move before the season has even ended? I can see a lot of players mailing in their performances in the final few weeks as they focus on getting their next move done so they can then focus on the summer tournaments / their expensive holidays.

 

[Mellotron]

Can only see this as a good thing. Does it solve everything? No, no one said it would. Is it the right move? Yes.

 

[Weststander]

Good news all around that, this will enable us to get those offshoot PL players that aren't wanted at their clubs in early so we can be fully prepared for another 46 game marathon.

Oddschecker currently show the odds of that at about evens, when looking at the spread between the bookies. We're the clear favourites. CP are 15/8 to go down, despite LLL form.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

This is bad news for clubs Newly promoted clubs and clubs with smaller budgets.

It will push prices up and how are you meant to get players in to improve squads in a short amount of time?

4 weeks after the World Cup next summer before the season starts.

Also - transfer windows are quite fun.

I would be interested to see how the clubs voted.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Just shifts the problem to a different date as far as I'm concerned. The brinkmanship will now just transfer from 31st Aug to the eve of the season for PL clubs. Add in the fact that this rule does NOTHING to stop other clubs in Europe from making offers and unsettling PL players right up till the window closes a few weeks later, and I don't really see what PL clubs have gained out of this. Sure, domestically it'll stop the trading after the season starts, but it wouldn't have prevented (for example) the Coutinho-to-Barca saga from dragging on and on till deadline day.

This solves nothing IMO, just shifts the problem elsewhere in the calendar and brings some other logistical complications into play.

It completely ignores other Windows are open around the world after ours shut anyway.

Turkish window is still opened now
China opens soon as well I believe.

 

[Weststander]

This is bad news for clubs Newly promoted clubs and clubs with smaller budgets.

It will push prices up and how are you meant to get players in to improve squads in a short amount of time?

4 weeks after the World Cup next summer before the season starts.

Also - transfer windows are quite fun.

I would be interested to see how the clubs voted.

Didn't the 'smaller' clubs generally back this? Petro dollar clubs love the long window, as their budget means they can bankroll last minute unsettling and grabbing of players.

There won't be a mad dash in WC years. Everything will simply be done earlier. Recruitment teams and directors aren't idle on transfers until the moment the window opens. Every ex player admits that tapping up goes on many months before the official opening of the window and we know that many agents/players families have a non existent ethical code. So in reality preparation for deals goes on well in advance of the official window.

We can still have the fun, it will be a dramatic Thursday each year.