Leicester City may have to wrap up their transfer business quickly this summer with the Premier League to vote on closing the window early.
According to the Telegraph, Premier League clubs will vote on Thursday over whether to set this summer’s deadline day as August 14, two days before the start of the new top-flight season.
For the vote to pass, 14 of the 20 clubs would need to vote in favour, and it would see the transfer window shortened by around two-and-a-half weeks.
The proposal marks a potential return to the transfer windows of 2018 and 2019, when the Premier League opted to end clubs’ business before the competitive campaign began.
The idea was then abandoned, with one of the principal concerns that clubs around Europe, who retained an end-of-August deadline, could unsettle and potentially poach Premier League players without English clubs having the possibility to bring in replacements.
Even if City were to drop into the Championship, a change in the Premier League could affect them.
In 2018 and 2019, the EFL voted to fall into line with the Premier League, at least to a degree.
In 2018, the EFL’s three divisions saw their window close on the same day as the Premier League, and so between the first and second games of the season.
Albeit, that was only for permanent deals, with loan moves still possible up to August 31.
The following year, in 2019, Championship clubs had to wrap up all permanent and loan deals by the Premier League’s deadline, but League One and League Two clubs were able to continue business until the end of the month.
Premier League managers have often said they prefer to have business done before the season begins, so that they can focus on matches without the upset of further business.
But there will be the same concerns that clubs around Europe, and those in Saudi Arabia, may be able to tempt players away unless overseas leagues also choose to copy the Premier League’s plan.
The 2018 and 2019 summer transfer windows were among City's more successful in recent years.
In 2018, their signings included Ricardo Pereira, James Maddison, Jonny Evans and Caglar Soyuncu. In 2019, they bought in James Justin and Youri Tielemans.
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