Premier League votes to close transfer window before season starts

In 2018, the transfer window will close at 5pm on the Thursday before the season begins – August 9.

The World Cup final in Russia will be held on July 15 so Premier League clubs will have less than four weeks to get all their business sorted following the completion of the tournament.

They will still be able to sell players past the deadline as buying clubs adhere to their own domestic deadlines – meaning English clubs could finish their business on August 9 and still have to fend off offers for their top players.

The Telegraph reported on Wednesday that a decision was "hanging in the balance" as several Premier League clubs were unwilling to back the plan unless they were also adopted by other major European leagues.

According to the paper, Crystal Palace and Watford were opposing the plan, while Manchester City, West Ham, West Brom, Swansea and Newcastle were all in favour, as long as other European leagues fell into line.

Such changes require the support of two-third majority to pass.

It is not easy to unpack the potential consequences of this transformative change until it actually happens, but this could go one of two ways.

Firstly, there is the obvious potential for putting Premier League clubs at a big competitive disadvantage compared with their European contemporaries, as they will have less time to put their own deals together and could face losing their best players to foreign clubs after the deadline, with no chance of bringing in a replacement. But presumably the 20 clubs have carefully analysed this scenario.

Altervatively, imposing an earlier deadline could have a positive impact. A club, say Liverpool, could act on the basis that any outgoings can only be sanctioned if a suitable replacement has already been brought in. They could legitimately inform a buying club, say Barcelona, that any deal for a star player, say Philippe Coutinho, would have to in effect be completed by the English deadline for Liverpool to permit it. That would give the big European clubs less time to poach players from England. As a protectionist move it is not perfect – Coutinho, in this entirely fictional example, could still try to go on strike and force a move after the English deadline is closed, of course – but it might have some mileage.

What it certainly would guard against is the kind of ridiculous situation we saw with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain where he played (terribly) against Liverpool in the third game of the season and then promptly signed for them. Closing the window before the season starts makes perfect logical sense and allows for a more balanced season. If Alexis Sanchez had joined Manchester City on deadline day, for example, he would have played three matches against Liverpool this season.

But if the European leagues do not fall into line and adopt the same measures, there is a chance this could be a damaging development for English clubs. If so, it will be short-lived.