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New transfer window stretches clubs

Last September the Premier League voted to close the transfer window before the start of the season. There were a number of good reasons for doing this. The transfer scramble distracted attention from the actual start of the season. It prevents the kind of distracted saga that can destabilise players and clubs.

However, it does put Premier League clubs at a disadvantage compared with European rivals. Premier League clubs cannot augment their squads after Thursday, but European clubs have another three weeks to sign players. Real Madrid have another three weeks to sign Thibaut Courtois, currently skulking in Teneriffe, but Chelsea cannot even sign a loan replacement after Thursday.

Some clubs have adjusted to the change more effectively than others with clubs that have a practice of being proactive finding themselves in a better place than those that are reactive. Clubs such as Newcastle and Tottenham, that operate on a sell to buy basis, have found themselves on the back foot. There is now less scope for playing the long game and seeing how the cards fall.

Clubs that got out and did their business early have made a success of the shortened window. Liverpool and Wolverhampton Wanderers fall into this category, as do promoted Fulham.

However, there is little appetite for reverting to the old system which would require nine clubs to change their minds.

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