Footie Central | Football Blog Blogging the football world
The Premier League has voted against moving the transfer deadline day back to the end of August.
This year, for the first time, the Premier League decided to close the transfer window before the start of the season. A number of clubs were unhappy with this, arguing that it put English clubs at a disadvantage compared to the rest of Europe for several reasons. They have contended that closing the window early allows clubs in Spain, Germany and Italy to do deals when Premier League clubs are not able to respond, and that teams in England could lose players abroad after the window closes and not be able to find replacements before January.
Additionally, it has been claimed that it forces up the price of players – teams abroad know that English clubs have a truncated deadline, and can afford to play hardball when it comes to transfer fees.
Despite that, as The Mirror reports, Premier League clubs have voted at their meeting on Thursday to stick with the current system, with nine clubs pushing for a reversion to the old deadline, but eleven in favour of the new timing. 14 clubs need to vote for a proposal in order for it to be voted through.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.