We are almost three games into the new season, yet the transfer window still remains open. As we draw closer to the inevitable frenetic end of the window on deadline day, transfer rumours are flying about, with clubs trying to sort out their final deals for the summer. For players and managers alike the transfer window poses a distinct threat to their sanity. As rumours continue to circulate there may be unrest or trouble in sides before all deals are done. In light of this, should the transfer window be reformed and closed before the start of the season for everyone’s sake?
The summer long transfer sagas-like the uncertainty over the future of Luka Modric at Tottenham-continue to rumble on, and have now been carried over into the new season. This is highly unsettling for both squads and individual players, as uncertainty remains about whether players will leave and who will be their team-mates for the season ahead. Harry Redknapp has said that Modric has not been in the right frame of mind to play for Spurs, and it isn’t any wonder with the uncertainty surrounding his future. A negative cloud is hanging over Spurs with the whole affair, and they would of benefited from having the saga dealt with before the season had actually started.
While the window remains open, clubs remain in flux and unfinished. Yet points won throughout this period are very real, and those points could be crucial in a title decider or relegation battle. Clubs should be forced to do their pre-season strengthening in pre-season, and start the new campaign with a squad set in stone. This way everyone knows where they are and who they are playing for, at least for the first half of the season.
One benefit of the transfer window being open after the beginning of the season is that it gives clubs the chance to see where they may need to strengthen, if at all, and it gives managers a chance to have a few weeks of league play to make their minds up about certain players and their squads. Surely it is fairer for both players and clubs, if sides are decided before the season, with all deals wrapped up before the start of the new campaign. Sure it is a bigger gamble for a manager if they don’t get to assess their squads in those first few games of the season, but it could certainly make it interesting, with managers forced to deal earlier in the summer and have to live by the consequences of the decisions they make before the start of the season.
While the transfer window remains open, the beginning of the season is taken over by transfer rumours, which though exciting throughout the summer, can became tedious and irritating at the beginning of the new campaign, when the focus should be purely on the football. It takes attention away from the opening games of the season, as players are unable to fully concentrate on football, with off-field matters seeming to take precedence.
The stumbling block in terms of moving the transfer window is a logistical one. Due to the different starting dates of the European leagues, it would be a disadvantage to other leagues if the English window was to close earlier. It is difficult to see any solutions to this problem, and the current window is a compromise that suits the majority.
With silly season almost over for another year, questions will remain as to whether we should close the window earlier. Managers should have to have their squads ready in time for the start of the new campaign, otherwise it takes away from the new season, and is just another example of how business is taking preference over sport.
Written by Lauren Rutter for FootballFancast.com. Do you think the transfer window should be closed before the start of the season? Let me know your thoughts below or follow me on Twitter @LaurenRutter
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