The Premier League is set to synchronise with the rest of Europe after the European Club Association (ECA) announced a major transfer window change.
Despite tightening cost controls from the Premier League and UEFA, it was another significant transfer window for the English top-flight.
Premier League spending reached a collective £2.08bn over the course of the summer window – roughly £360m shy of the single-window record set the year before.
It was also a summer for recouping fees with a new record set in that respect, but a major change has been set in motion by the European Club Association.
The ECA – which seeks to safeguard clubs in Europe’s top leagues – has put forward a proposal dedicated to setting a deadline day that will prevent clubs from buying and selling, once domestic seasons have begun.
This means the transfer window will close on August 15th 2025, which is a day prior to the Premier League’s opening day next season.
The slight transfer window change comes after several attempts to push it through in recent seasons. Prior to the window just-gone-by, pressure from Barcelona forced La Liga to withdraw their support amid the Catalans’ troubling financial position, which had them scrambling to sell assets in order to afford incomings such as Dani Olmo.
Despite failed attempts to push this alteration through, the ECA has now agreed a blanket ruling across Europe to standardise transfer window deadlines, which should see major leagues fall in line.
Ex-Sunderland director Chris Woerts – now a major figure in the Eredivisie – revealed that the motion gained increasing traction after this summer.
“The clubs are working hard to get the decision made on this within the entire ECA. Next year the transfer window must close on August 15, before the leagues kick off,” he said.
“Everyone is getting frustrated and annoyed by the fact that players are still being sold for weeks while the competitions have started.
“One major club in Spain caused a problem so it couldn’t happen this year. That was FC Barcelona. Because of all their financial problems they were not able to make moves on the transfer market until a very late stage. So they broke the pact of the ‘Big Five’.”
