Premier League to benefit from rule change after plan for major overhaul of transfer window approved

The Premier League has approved plans to close next summer's transfer window before the start of the new season.

The deal will bring English football's top flight into line with Europe's other major leagues.

Executives at the European Club Association, which represents clubs in England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France, have pledged to stop clubs from exchanging players once the new campaign gets underway.

The 2025/26 Premier League season is set to get underway on Saturday 16 August and there are plans to close the summer transfer window 25 hours earlier on Friday 15 August.

It is hoped the Premier League can then convince the rest of Europe to follow the example of clubs in the top five leagues who are unable to recruit once the new season begins.

The idea of ​​a uniform deadline day fell apart this summer when LaLiga withdrew its support for the idea.

This happened after the league came under pressure from Barcelonawho needed more time to raise funds due to their financial situation.

This meant clubs could buy and sell players until August 30, two weeks after the Premier League started.

That deal was a major source of frustration for Premier League bosses, who were unhappy with the disruptive nature of the market in their preparations.

Manchester City Chief executive Ferran Soriano and Celtic non-executive chairman Peter Lawwell sit on the ECA board, as does former Sunderland director Chris Woerts.

Woerts is a leading figure in the Dutch Eredivisie and spoke about how the plan had gained support.

He said: “Clubs are working hard to ensure that the decision on this is taken within the entire ECA. Next year, the transfer window must close on August 15, before the start of the leagues.

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“Everyone is frustrated and upset that players are still being sold for weeks while competitions have already started.

“One of the big clubs in Spain caused problems so that it couldn’t be done this year. That was FC Barcelona. Because of all their financial problems, they couldn’t make any signings in the transfer market until a very late stage. So they broke the pact of the ‘big five’.”

The final day of transfers this summer saw the completion of big deals such as Arsenal signed Raheem Sterling on loan from Chelsea and Manchester United He signed Manuel Ugarte from Paris Saint-Germain.

However, next year, any such drama on the last day of the year will be completed before play even begins.