Premier League clubs vote to close transfer window before start of season

The just concluded summer transfer window closed on August 31, more than two weeks after the start of the domestic campaign in England, but this will now change after English Premier League clubs on Thursday voted that the window be closed before the first game of the season beginning from next summer.

The new ruling which takes effect from next summer will now see the summer transfer window close at 5:00 p.m. on the day before the start of the season.

The vote, which was not unanimous, took place at a shareholders meeting, after it had been widely reported that the majority of clubs were in favour of the move reports ESPN FC.

The decision also means Premier League clubs will be unable to replace players they lose to foreign teams in the last few weeks of the window.

Not every club is quiet convinced of the new date as several clubs expressed their concern about closing the window much earlier than other European leagues.

Summer of 2018 is likely to be a trial which can be reviewed before the 2019-20 season.

Transfer windows have been a fixture in the football calendar since 2002 when FIFA made them compulsory after lengthy talks with the European Commission on the game's transfer system.

They were intended as a compromise between the clubs' desire for contractual certainty on the one hand, and the players' rights to freedom of movement on the other.

The actual dates of the windows varies from country to country -- and a transfer window is open somewhere in the world every day of the year -- but in Europe they tend to be from the start of June to the end of August, with a shorter midseason window in January.