EPL to close transfer window before season

0 Comment(s)Print E-mail Shanghai Daily, September 8, 2017
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 Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain transferred after the season began.



English Premier League clubs voted yesterday to close the 2018 close-season transfer window before the start of the 2018-19 campaign.

Following complaints by managers that transfer activity disturbs their preparations, EPL clubs will not be able to register new players after 1600 GMT on the Thursday before the season starts.

The transfer window in Europe's other major leagues runs until August 31, meaning clubs outside England could buy players from English top-flight teams after the new EPL deadline.

"Premier League clubs have today agreed to a rule amendment that will see the summer transfer window in any year end at 17:00 on the Thursday before the start of the season," the EPL said in a statement. "This is for Premier League clubs only and has no bearing on other leagues and competitions."

The move was announced following a meeting of EPL club officials and is not believed to have been agreed unanimously.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger gave his backing to the decision before it was announced.

"Even in the games, you sit there before the games and even in players' minds they have no clarity," he told reporters at his weekly press conference.

"Are they in? Are they out? Are they half in? Are they half out? Are they tapped up in the afternoon of the game by people who want to get them out? It's not the way to work and it's uncomfortable.

"Every single manager in the league would agree that it's time to kick that out before the season starts and not continue to have players in the dressing room who are half out and half in."

England's Football League — the second, third and fourth tiers — is not affected by the move but a similar change is on the agenda for its meeting of clubs on September 21.

EPL clubs spent a record 1.4 billion pounds (US$1.8 billion) on new players during the 2017 close-season window.

The window closed last Thursday, three weeks after the new season had started.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain played for Arsenal in a 0-4 loss to Liverpool in the third game of the season on August 27. He then joined Liverpool on August 31 — the final day of the transfer window.

Chris Hughton, manager of promoted Brighton and Hove Albion, welcomed the decision. "That is good news," he said. "Most managers would say the same. You have a hectic enough time as it is preparing for the season."

Earlier this week, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin gave his support to making the close-season player trading period shorter.

Transfer windows were introduced by world governing body FIFA in 2002.

In Europe they generally run from the start of June to the end of August, with a shorter mid-season window in January.

Some European clubs have also expressed support for shortening the window but the EPL is so far the only league to have made the move.

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