London: English Championship clubs have agreed in principle to move the summer transfer deadline to the end of August following the Premier League’s decision to change to that date.
The switch will bring the 24 second tier teams into line with Premier League, League One, League Two clubs. English Football League chiefs will now start the process of formally adopting the change.
“EFL clubs have today reached an agreement in principle to amend the deadline of the summer transfer window to the traditional closing date at the end of August,” an EFL statement said on Thursday.
The deadline for all EFL transfer activity this summer is likely to be September 1, with August 31 a Bank Holiday. Premier League clubs recently voted to push the transfer deadline back to the end of August, overturning a decision made in 2017 to bring the deadline forward to before the start of the domestic season. The 2017 system was used for the last two summers but after other European countries chose not to follow suit it has been changed again. It was felt that European clubs were at an advantage as they could still sign Premier League players but no replacements could be bought.On the other hand, Premier League leaders Liverpool made a pre-tax profit of 42 million ($54 million) last year despite a record 223 million investment on players, figures showed on Thursday.
While that top line is well below the record ?125 million profit for the year ending May 2018, the rewards are being felt on the pitch, with the club just four victories away from winning their first league title in 30 years. (AFP)
