Ending The Transfer Window Before The Season Will...

[StanSpur]

My only concern would be that players seem to pick up injuries during the pre season and first few games as they step up their fitness after a break. The current window arrangements mean that in these cases there is the chance to get in extra cover if needed, outside of squad improvement requirements. Maybe a solution to this is keeping a loan window 3-4 weeks into the season start (frankly I don't see why clubs cant loan throughout the season - with restrictions on number of loans at any time and ability to cancel loans i.e. 6 months means 6 months).

 

[Shadydan]

To everyone saying Daniel will be happy... if our deadline day is 2 weeks before that of the rest of Europe, wouldn't that take away a significant amount of his bargaining power?

No, transfer deadline day will still be transfer deadline day albeit 3 weeks earlier. Reason why Daniel leaves it late is because the richer clubs get their business done early but they'll be aware that they need to get their business done earlier.

 

[StanSpur]

Love the idea of limiting the transfers per club.

Not sure about this, I get it from the perspective of a club fighting with teams with bigger budgets in the same section of the league however, if a club has come up from the playoffs in the championship having say finished 6th, they will not likely have the squad to stay in the prem so limiting them to 3 or 4 players may not be enough to make them competitive and therefore a wasted league place. A way around that would be to bring in a version of the American drafting system whereby the team that wins the league can only sign one player and the teams coming up can sign 18-20 (or whatever sliding scale you put in between). Then you also have to look at all the leagues around the country, Europe and the world to see how these restrictions will impact the global trade of players i.e. less purchases = less sales for teams that need to develop players to sustain the clubs finances e.g. Ajax etc.

 

[nicdic]

Not sure about this, I get it from the perspective of a club fighting with teams with bigger budgets in the same section of the league however, if a club has come up from the playoffs in the championship having say finished 6th, they will not likely have the squad to stay in the prem so limiting them to 3 or 4 players may not be enough to make them competitive and therefore a wasted league place. A way around that would be to bring in a version of the American drafting system whereby the team that wins the league can only sign one player and the teams coming up can sign 18-20 (or whatever sliding scale you put in between). Then you also have to look at all the leagues around the country, Europe and the world to see how these restrictions will impact the global trade of players i.e. less purchases = less sales for teams that need to develop players to sustain the clubs finances e.g. Ajax etc.

Yeah, it's the least likely to work out in practice, but I just like the idea. I'd love rules to come in that seek to even the playing field somewhat. As I was writing about limited transfers I had in mind whether you could some kind of US Draft equivalent thing to even things up, as set transfers for every club don't necessarily help.

On Ajax and the like though, have they resorted to that because they just aren't able to compete financially anymore? If you limited the transfers, they'd keep more of their players, and could potentially win more on the pitch?

 

[mpickard2087]

Not sure about this, I get it from the perspective of a club fighting with teams with bigger budgets in the same section of the league however, if a club has come up from the playoffs in the championship having say finished 6th, they will not likely have the squad to stay in the prem so limiting them to 3 or 4 players may not be enough to make them competitive and therefore a wasted league place. A way around that would be to bring in a version of the American drafting system whereby the team that wins the league can only sign one player and the teams coming up can sign 18-20 (or whatever sliding scale you put in between). Then you also have to look at all the leagues around the country, Europe and the world to see how these restrictions will impact the global trade of players i.e. less purchases = less sales for teams that need to develop players to sustain the clubs finances e.g. Ajax etc.

I did mean to say in my original idea, that promoted teams could be allowed extra transfers, so they might be allowed three or four rather than one or two.

It's just an idea that I wouldn't really be against. Teams at all levels would be forced to focus on development and bringing through their own players. They'd have to think about style of play, developing systems and planning over a longer term. Transfers made would have to be much more judicious and carefully planned. I think in your argument, Ajax could actually benefit from it - if they've got one of the best academies and have a better chance of keeping their players then they might become more competitive on the CL stage.

 

[LexingtonSpurs]

I love how some people seem to think this will stop the madness at the end of the window. The last 2 weeks will still be the busiest, it's just that the last 2 weeks will be earlier.

Its not going to stop the madness - but it will eliminate the uncertainty around players like Sigurdsson, Barkley, Coutinho, etc. once the season starts and teams will be better able to prepare for every game - knowing who is available.

Its not in the league's, or the individual team's, best interest to have players sitting out the first 3 matches waiting to find out where they will be playing. Everyone want the best players on the pitch - not in the stands.

 

[StanSpur]

I did mean to say in my original idea, that promoted teams could be allowed extra transfers, so they might be allowed three or four rather than one or two.

It's just an idea that I wouldn't really be against. Teams at all levels would be forced to focus on development and bringing through their own players. They'd have to think about style of play, developing systems and planning over a longer term. Transfers made would have to be much more judicious and carefully planned. I think in your argument, Ajax could actually benefit from it - if they've got one of the best academies and have a better chance of keeping their players then they might become more competitive on the CL stage.

I agree it would help Ajax be more competitive however, a lot of clubs exist now in the modern game to exist and not to win major trophies. It is a very sad reality that the choice a great club like Ajax has is to sell to stay wealthy enough to invest in their youth policy to continue to win the dutch league and stay afloat. Less income would likely see them invest less in youth scouting over time and their academy would therefore not be as strong and therefore they still wouldn't be competitive in the European cups, and maybe even less so in the dutch league.

Football in the modern era is geared around business operations and not pitch performance unfortunately and anything that impacts on the free trade within a capitalist model will end up putting many of these business out of business and prove to only benefit those that have already invested in the brand and infrastructure to succeed. We will end up with a breakaway European league (as has often been touted) containing 10-20 top elite clubs and we could well see the rest of football regress into a semi professional game over time. With pro leagues in India China and USA etc as per the cricket T20 leagues...

 

[Saoirse]

The vote's just gone in favour of closing early - 5pm on the Thursday immediately before the start of the season.

 

['O Zio]

So what happens when a European club comes in for one of our players? He will be unsettled, DL will have to deal with it. The only thing that will change is PL clubs wont be able to buy. I think that will be more unsettling.

This is why they need to impose the deadline to be the same across the "big 5" leagues IMO. Either way, I don't see how it'll be more unsettling given that there will be less clubs able to sign our players.

 

[teok]

The vote's just gone in favour of closing early - 5pm on the Thursday immediately before the start of the season.

Good news in my opinion.

 

[John48]

Unless it's Europe wide I can only this causing chaos for clubs like ours, not the likes of Stoke, Bournemouth & WHam, because they're unlikely to have players that the big clubs in Europe want.

Not sure what we would do if Barca or RM coming with a ridiculous offer for one of our players after our window closes & the player makes clear he wants to go. We can't get a replacement, so we either have to keep an unhappy player or weaken our squad. Silly in my view.

 

[Hercules]

Personally cannot see this working. You need the other clubs, especially in Europe to agree. Because our window closes 9th August, I cannot see under existing rules (Restrictions of trade) you voujd stop a club procuring our player.

 

[Saoirse]

Unless it's Europe wide I can only this causing chaos for clubs like ours, not the likes of Stoke, Bournemouth & WHam, because they're unlikely to have players that the big clubs in Europe want.

Not sure what we would do if Barca or RM coming with a ridiculous offer for one of our players after our window closes & the player makes clear he wants to go. We can't get a replacement, so we either have to keep an unhappy player or weaken our squad. Silly in my view.

I assume we tell them to wait till the next window or go skidaddle, and make it very clear to everyone beforehand that this will be the policy - if you want a move, your agent better tell whoever's interested to sort it while we can still get a replacement or you can forget it.

 

[LexingtonSpurs]

Personally cannot see this working. You need the other clubs, especially in Europe to agree. Because our window closes 9th August, I cannot see under existing rules (Restrictions of trade) you voujd stop a club procuring our player.

You stop a club from procuring our player by refusing to sell...just like Liverpool did with Coutinho, Southampton with Van Dijk, and Arsenal with Sanchez.

Players, and more importantly, agents will know that PL clubs won't sell after the deadline, if those clubs did not bring in cover before the deadline. Its really not any more complicated than that.

 

[Hercules]

You stop a club from procuring our player by refusing to sell...just like Liverpool did with Coutinho, Southampton with Van Dijk, and Arsenal with Sanchez.

Players, and more importantly, agents will know that PL clubs won't sell after the deadline, if those clubs did not bring in cover before the deadline. Its really not any more complicated than that.

I would lean on your side of true argument, but just not sure if that simple.

 

[McArchibald]

We could really suffer from this rule change imo... We brought in players from other countries and those clubs (like PSG) could be less willing to sell if they themselves have more than 3 weeks of window to go in which a whole lot might happen to their squads.

Why not bring the close of the window forward to 15 august all across europe and then schedule the start of the competition after that date (or play only League cup games before that date)?

 

[Styopa]

My first thought also is this could seriously weaken our negotiating position in certain situations, especially if we are competing with other European clubs to sign a player. Would we have signed Van der Vaart if our window had closed 3 weeks before the Spanish window for example?

 

[eddiev14]

We could really suffer from this rule change imo... We brought in players from other countries and those clubs (like PSG) could be less willing to sell if they themselves have more than 3 weeks of window to go in which a whole lot might happen to their squads.

Why not bring the close of the window forward to 15 august all across europe and then schedule the start of the competition after that date (or play only League cup games before that date)?

This is how I feel.

Levy will hate this unless all of the top leagues in Europe are subject to it, too. He waits because a lot of the time the targets become available later in the window when clubs have got their replacements in and/or know what they've got for the season.

It'll be nice to know your team before the first match but - financially speaking - I think we'll be the hardest hit by it.

Given the quality we're looking for versus our budget, we'll miss out on some European targets unless we spend more money to get it done before the new deadline.

 

[Cavehillspur]

Personally cannot see this working. You need the other clubs, especially in Europe to agree. Because our window closes 9th August, I cannot see under existing rules (Restrictions of trade) you voujd stop a club procuring our player.

Agree with this, im all for it closing early but it should be imposed across Europe for it to work imo.

 

[Univarn]

I would lean on your side of true argument, but just not sure if that simple.

I tend to agree here. What Arsenal, Liverpool, and Southmapton did was incredibly risky and we won't know how it will pan out for them for a while. Risking upsetting a player doesn't just affect the locker room presence of that player but also how other players perceive you. If they feel you will not let them leave they may be less inclined to join or more difficult in contract negotiations.