It has been a relatively quiet summer of transfer business in the Premier League, for a number of reasons, but there is still time for the 20 top-flight clubs to fine-tune their squads ahead of the 2019/20 season.
When does the window close?
For the second season since the Premier League clubs reached an agreement over its early closure, the transfer window will slam shut on the eve of the opening fixture – this year, it will close at 5 pm on Thursday 8th August.
What about the transfer window across Europe?
Unhelpfully, perhaps, the transfer window closes later for other European leagues. Business closes in Italy on Friday 23rd August, while clubs in La Liga, Ligue Un and the Bundesliga must complete their transfer by the 2nd September. Further afield, the Chinese transfer window has already closed – that was on July 31st.
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Why is Chelsea under a transfer ban?
Chelsea has been slapped with a two-window transfer ban by Fifa after breaching rules in relation to youth players.
The club denies any wrongdoing but was found guilty of contravening Article 19 of Fifa’s rules which bans the transfer of under-18s from one country to another unless strict criteria are met. The rules were largely brought in to help protect children from exploitation and trafficking. There were also breaches of Article 18b – which concerns third-party ownership – around two of the players.
Chelsea cannot register players in the next two transfer windows ie. this summer and next January, so the whole of the 2019-20 season. It does not actually stop them from buying players. But because the players cannot be registered they cannot play – as Barcelona did in buying Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal in 2015 while under a transfer embargo.
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What are the biggest Premier League deals of the summer so far?
Manchester City, perhaps unsurprisingly, have made the most expensive deal of the summer – Atletico Madrid midfielder Rodri was signed for a cool £62.8m. Tottenham’s £55m capture of Lyon midfielder Tanguy Ndombele was a new club record purchase, while Manchester United shelled out the princely sum of £50m to sign right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka from Crystal Palace.
The busiest clubs in the transfer window so far are both promoted sides: Aston Villa and Norwich have signed 11 new players each. Meanwhile, in their only signing of the summer, Chelsea secured the permanent £50m signing of Mateo Kovacic just 72 hours before their transfer ban kicked in.
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