Premier League teams have decided to change their summer transfer window to bring it back in line with the rest of European football clubs.
It means this summer’s transfer window will close on September 1 at 5pm for Premier League teams.
The Premier League has also confirmed that the 2020/21 campaign will start on August 8.
A statement from the Premier League about the transfer window change read: “At a Shareholders’ Meeting today, Premier League clubs voted to adopt a change to the Summer Transfer Window closing date for season 2020/21.
This will return the closing date back to the traditional point at the end of August/early September. The closing date for 2020 will be 17:00 BST on 1 September (31 August 2020 being a UK Bank Holiday).
Teams agreed after discussing the issue at length at previous Shareholders’ Meetings.”
In 2017, Premier League sides voted to close the transfer window a day before the start of the new campaign, abandoning the European deadline at the end of August.
However, Premier League managers have bemoaned the changes, suggesting it leaves teams in England at a disadvantage with other European teams still able to sign their players once the window has closed.
When the vote was done two years ago, only Manchester United, Manchester City, Crystal Palace, Watford and Swansea voted against it.
The Premier League’s new chief executive, Richard Masters, spoke to Sky Sports ahead of the vote and said Britain’s exit from the European Union could be a big factor in clubs’ thinking.
“One of the reasons is because the immigration system is going to change and it may be that it’s the last window where freedom of movement is possible, clubs may want to take advantage of the longer window to make sure that they’ve taken full advantage,” he said.
