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Manchester United and Manchester City were among five clubs who voted against the Premier League's plans to move up the transfer deadline, a source has confirmed to ESPN FC. The league announced on Thursday that the 20 clubs voted to close the summer transfer window before the first game of next season. But a source confirmed that the Manchester clubs, as well as Swansea, Crystal Palace and Watford were not in favour of the change, while Burnley abstained. Details of the voting were earlier reported by Sky Sports. This summer's transfer window closed on Aug. 31, more than two weeks after the start of the Premier League season, but next season it will move to 5 p.m. on the day before the first games. United's vote is counter to a previously stated position of Jose Mourinho, who previously backed the idea. "I would prefer the window to close as soon as possible," he said on Aug. 18. "So everybody knows the players we have and the deals will be done earlier and nobody would be waiting for the last week and we wouldn't have the situation of sometimes a player plays game No. 1 for a team and game No. 2 for another team." Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain joined Liverpool just five days after playing for Arsenal at Anfield, a fact that was raised as an example of the extended window's potential threat to the integrity of the league. But boss Jurgen Klopp two weeks ago also lent his support to the window change, saying an earlier deadline "would have helped us this year. It makes sense that when the season is starting, planning for the team is over." It had previously been widely reported that the majority of clubs were in favour of the move, though some raised concerns about closing the window much earlier than other European leagues. The decision means Premier League clubs will be unable to replace players they lose to foreign teams in the last few weeks of the window. But Mourinho last month disputed that idea, citing the English league's rise in buying power by asking "how many clubs in the world are powerful enough to buy the best players in the Premier League?" "The answer is I think is very obvious," he said. "So the risk is minimal and even those powerful clubs have to know if we can't buy players we're not going to sell." On Thursday, Brighton manager Chris Hughton, who signed Sporting Lisbon defender Ezequiel Schelotto but missed out on Tottenham striker Vincent Janssen on deadline day, welcomed the decision. "That is good news," he said. "I think most managers would say the same. You have a hectnic enough time as it is preparing for the season. It would make it uncomfortable going into the first week but most of us would prefer to have it then than what we have now, going into the early weeks of the season." Swansea coach Paul Clement outlined his support for the early closure of the transfer window last month and expressed his delight that the move would now be going ahead after describing the end to the window last week as "crazy." "I welcome it," Clement said. "My view has not changed and it has been further reinforced because it got crazy towards the final days. It should be done before the start of the season so you can concentrate all your efforts on planning and preparing for the matches. I think that change is very positive." Bundesliga clubs reportedly also discussed shortening their transfer window in a meeting on Thursday, while Italian giants Juventus have endorsed the Premier League's move. Juventus chief executive Giuseppe Marotta said on the club's Twitter feed: "The Premier League's decision to end the transfer window early is wise. Now we have to extend the discussion to a European level."
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