Football
ESPN staff 7y

Most Prem clubs in favour of closing transfer window earlier - Brady

West Ham vice chairman Karren Brady has told Sky Sports that the vast majority of Premier League clubs are in favour of closing the transfer window before the start of the season.

The Premier League is next month expected to approve changes that will bring the deadline forward by around three weeks.

Brady says most of Premier League were supportive of the idea when it was discussed in four months ago, and with 14 votes needed to pass a rule change at September's Premier League meeting it seems likely to go through.

The Daily Telegraph reports that Manchester United are one of the few clubs who have reservations, with Watford likely oppose it, with concerns over the advantage it gives to European clubs who will continue to work to the end-of-August deadline and would still be able to sign players from English clubs.

"We'd started debating this around March 2017 at the Premier League and 17 clubs were broadly in favour of the window being closed," Brady said. "I think the main issue is that it protects the integrity of the squad, you know where you are, you have to get on with it and the players know that.

"It's mainly for the club, fans and manager to know: this is who we've got, this is the squad, these are the numbers, on we go. I think in reality you already know what positions you need, how you're going to spend [early on] and there's also the January window.

"I think to close the window early, for the integrity of the league, is the right decision."

This summer's window has seen a number of protracted transfer sagas disrupt some teams' start to the season, including those involving Southampton's Virgil van Dijk and Gylfi Sigurdsson -- who joined Everton from Swansea on Wednesday.

Most Premier League bosses have voiced their support for the idea when asked in news conferences this week.

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