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Premier League clubs vote to move transfer deadline

Premier League clubs have voted to change the deadline of the summer transfer window, with the decision moving the dates back in line with the rest of Europe.

Over the past two campaigns, England’s transfer window has closed prior to the start of the new league season following complaints that the original dates at the end of August caused disruption with sides still able to lose key players once the season was underway.

However, with the other major leagues across Europe having kept to the traditional deadlines, many Premier League clubs were left in an uncompromising position of still being able to lose players to interested clubs on the continent without being able to sign replacements.

A vote has now been taken at a Premier League shareholders’ meeting in London, with a decision being made to return the transfer window to its previous format, an announcement confirming that the 2020 summer window will close on September 1 at 17:00.

A Premier League statement read: “At a Shareholders’ Meeting today, Premier League clubs voted to adopt a change to the Summer Transfer Window closing date for season 2020/21,

“This will move the closing date back to the traditional point at the end of August/early September. The 2020 closing date will therefore be 17:00 BST on 1 September (31 August 2020 being a UK Bank Holiday).

“Clubs agreed after discussing the topic at length at previous Shareholders’ Meetings.”

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was amongst the Premier League managers to advocate returning the dates to the previous format, having felt the division’s sides were at a disadvantage with the early closure.

Speaking on the issue in September, Klopp said: “I don’t care when it closes, but it must close at the same time.

“They spoke about finishing it before the season starts. Good idea, but only England did it. That makes no sense. It was a good idea but it didn’t work out.”

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