As with most things in football now, the summer transfer window is ever changing.
The easiest day to remember is Deadline Day, which is usually pencilled in the diaries of clubs, players and fans alike as the transfer window slams shut and chaos ensues, but even that has moved around in recent years.
In the 2018/19 season, the Premier League transfer window closed two days before the season started after complaints that it closing late disrupted managers plans for their squads, whilst it remained open across Europe until August 31st. Premier League clubs soon voted to revert back and aligned their closing dates with Europe.
Again, the dates have changed this year, but for a different reason…
When does the summer transfer window officially open?
Well, there is two answers for that question.
It will originally open on June 1 for 10 days for a exceptional registration period for the expanded Club World Cup after club shareholders agreed in a meeting in London on March 27.
It will then close again, before reopening on June 16 until September 1. FIFA transfer windows can only open for 16 weeks in a year. As the winter window typically lasts 4 weeks, it leaves 12 for the summer, hence the need to close and re-open in June.
Chelsea are planning on adding Dario Essugo and Kendry Paez to the Club World Cup squad with deals already confirmed for the youngsters.
Who can sign players during this period?
When FIFA announced the implementation of the special registration window, it was originally only opened for clubs competing at the Club World Cup, in England’s case this would have meant Manchester City and Chelsea. Several clubs voiced their discontent with this, stating it puts them at a disadvantage.
However, the decision at the shareholders meeting allows any Premier League team to sign players in this window. Whilst it has been opened to allow players to move ahead of the Club World Cup, in theory any Premier League club could sign someone in this window.
Real Madrid may look to take advantage of this window by signing Trent Alexander-Arnold from Liverpool. The full-backs deal with the Reds is set to expire on June 30, but Los Blancos could attempt to negotiate a fee for Alexander-Arnold in order to allow him to play in the Club World Cup.
The Club World Cup conundrum…
The exceptional registration window is not the only tweak FIFA have made to transfer windows this summer.
Rules have been changed that could effectively see teams just sign a player for the duration of the tournament.
The tournament will also have two registration windows, one pre-tournament and one pre-knockouts (27 June and 3 July). Players will be eligible to sign for teams after the start of the tournament, June 15, and should their new team progress, they could be included in the roster for the knockout stages.
This also allows players who run down their contracts to be registered for the knockout stages. Mohamed Salah for example, could run down his contract at Liverpool, and sign for Al-Hilal who progress to the knockout stages. He could then be registered for the latter stages of the tournament if they wish.
A player cannot play for two teams at the tournament, meaning should Kevin De Bruyne play for Manchester City in America, he could not run down his contract and then sign for another team competing. FIFA have also tweaked it so players can sign short term extensions allowing them to compete for the duration of the tournament, should they wish.
