- European top leagues, including the Premier League, are proposing to close the summer transfer window before the season kicks off
- Barcelona’s financial troubles were reportedly a major obstacle to an earlier transfer window closure before the 2024-25 season
- Tottenham’s $87 million signing of Dominic Solanke came just days before the Premier League started
As the football world continues to anticipate several derby clashes in various leagues, a quiet but significant shift looms over Europe's top leagues. Leading leagues, including the Premier League, are nearing consensus on a game-changing decision, that is, closing the summer transfer window before the start of the season.
This proposed reform is designed to eliminate the issues that often affect the final weeks of the window, ensuring a more stable deal for clubs, players, and fans alike. The potential change, supported by key figures across the football world, could take effect as early as the 2025-26 season.
For years, some clubs have struggled with the issue of having the transfer window extend into the new campaign. Particularly in Italy’s Serie A, where seasons used to start after the window closed, clubs often scrambled to finalise signings during the opening matches. This problem has worsened in recent seasons, as packed football calendars have forced early kick-offs. The result? Players are often sold shortly after featuring in matches, leaving clubs to find last-minute replacements at inflated prices.
The chaos has spurred figures like Gabriele Gravina, President of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), to call for synchronized transfer deadlines across Europe.
Premier League clubs have now aligned with Serie A, La Liga, the Bundesliga, and Ligue 1 to push for this shift.
According to The Mirror, the English top flight is considering closing the summer transfer window before the 2025-26 season begins. With over $2.3 billion spent on transfers during the last summer window, including late deals such as Tottenham’s record $87 million signing of Dominic Solanke just days before the season kicked off, the urgency for change is evident.
High-profile players like Aaron Ramsdale, Raheem Sterling, and Jadon Sancho also switched clubs mere moments before the deadline.
However, implementing this synchronized closure has faced hurdles in the past. A previous attempt to close the window before the 2024-25 season failed due to a lack of unity among Europe’s top five leagues.
Barcelona, dealing with financial difficulties, played a key role in derailing the efforts, as the club needed additional time to balance the books and register new players like Dani Olmo.
“One major club in Spain caused a problem so it couldn’t happen this year. That was FC Barcelona,” admitted a senior figure involved in the negotiations.
Despite these challenges, talks within the European Club Association (ECA) suggest that the summer window could close on August 15, just a day before the 2025-26 season begins, aligning all five major leagues.
Ferran Soriano, Manchester City’s chief executive, and Peter Lawwell, Celtic’s non-executive chairman, are among the influential figures pushing for this overhaul.
If successful, this reform could bring an end to the chaotic nature of last-minute transfers and see more deals wrapped up faster than usual.
UEFA Champions League: Intriguing new format signals new era for European football
Previously, TheRadar reported that the UEFA Champions League is poised for its biggest format overhaul in 32 years, introducing a new structure for the 2024/25 season and beyond. Since the tournament's transformation from the European Cup to the Champions League in 1992, the group stage format has been integral, with four teams per group facing each other both home and away.
While the group stage structure has undergone tweaks over the years, the current format of 32 teams divided into eight groups, with the top two progressing to the knockout stage, has been consistent for the last 20 years.
