Transfer window to close before start of the Premier League season

Plenty of Premier League managers have complained vocally about the fact that the summer transfer window closes well after the beginning of the new season. While the fact remains that it gives the managers a chance to see where the gaps remain in their sides and what needs strengthening, the distraction and disruption that teams undergo from wantaway players and the like is enough to ask for the rules to be changed.

Now it appears those prayers will be answered, with the clubs’ representatives voting next month at the Premier League shareholders’ meeting. Per a report from The Telegraph, the majority of the clubs are asking for the change in the transfer deadline day and will push through the move.

With the new rules, the English clubs will still be allowed to sell players to clubs in other countries, but transfer deals within the Premier League will end before the season starts.

The potential ramifications of changing the deadline day are plenty, with all the transfer subplots that surround the squad around the beginning of the season. Everton have once again been affected by the window still being open.

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The Gylfi Sigurdsson saga has dragged on for weeks now, with a sense of inevitability surrounding the whole affair but meanwhile the Icelander is neither playing for Swansea City nor for the Blues.

Likewise for Ross Barkley, who is expected to leave the Blues after refusing to sign a new contract entering the last year of his current deal. The player has been plagued with injury issues this summer while his future remains up in the air, likely delaying any potential transfers.

The benefits of changing the deadline day would certainly make the preseason more interesting as the games would no longer be light-hearted affairs. Managers will have little chance to see what their new signings look like before the season starts, and building team chemistry ahead of competitive games gets to be more difficult as well.

However, the lure of having a settled side before the beginning of the season will be something that most managers will want to have and likely will make the difference when all twenty clubs vote on September 7th.