Manchester United are heading up a campaign to get transfer deadline day for Premier League clubs moved back to the end of August.
It was voted to have deadline day moved forward to the night before the beginning of the season so that Premier League clubs would not be disrupted by transfer dealings in the opening weeks of the campaign.
The window closed on August 9 this year for sides in England’s top flight but the fact that teams from the other major European leagues were allowed to do business up until the end of the month has been a cause for concern for some Premier League managers.
In theory, a spending powerhouse from Spain or France could have come in with an irresistible bid for a Premier League superstar on August 30 and the selling club would not have been able to replace him.
It’s that possibility which has resulted in United requesting the window to go back to the way it used to be and a report in the Daily Mail claims that the Red Devils are backed up by several of the bigger teams in the Premier League.
The issue was brought up at a Premier League meeting this month and clubs could get the opportunity to vote on whether or not to revert to the old deadline at the next summit in November.
Crystal Palace, Manchester City, Manchester United, Swansea and Watford originally voted against the move, while Arsenal, Bournemouth, Brighton, Chelsea, Everton, Huddersfield, Leicester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Southampton, Stoke, Tottenham, West Bromwich and West Ham were in favour of bringing it forward. Burnley were the only club to abstain.
Given the concern certain Premier League clubs have about losing players and being unable to bring in replacements, Fifa are also entertaining the idea of introducing a standardised transfer window for all clubs in Europe which would see one deadline day for everybody before the beginning of the season, meaning that no teams would gain an advantage.