Everton boss Marco Silva has called for the Premier League transfer window to shut on the same day as the rest of Europe to stop putting English sides at a disadvantage.
The transfer windows for Spain’s LaLiga, Italy’s Serie A, Germany’s Bundesliga and France’s Ligue 1 all close on September 2. The Premier League’s deadline was on August 8.
Silva echoed the thoughts of Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino, who criticised the earlier close of the Premier League’s summer transfer window as it could “create confusion in your squad” and gives European clubs an advantage.
“I wholly agree with Mauricio,” Silva said. “I have the same opinion. I understood when the Premier League took the decision, last season, to finish the market before the first Premier League match. But after it doesn’t make sense if the other countries keep theirs open.
“I know when Mauricio spoke about that he spoke about the teams playing Champions League and with other challenges, but in my opinion they have to find a way for almost all the countries to close on the same day, and to do it before the start of the championship would be the best solution.
“But it doesn’t make sense if you finish before the first match and the other countries, until the end of August, get to sign our players.”
Brighton manager Graham Potter admitted he does not worry too much about the window but did agree it can leave players’ futures up in the air.
“It’s a tricky one because I think when the competition starts you want everything to be quite clear,” Potter said.
“Obviously from our perspective it is because we can’t do anything. But if the other (European) windows are still open then you’ve still got that speculation that players could leave and just dealing with that because it’s always an option, especially if guys aren’t in the team, there is talking around that, so that can be a little bit of a challenge.
“But I think it’s hard to get every single window around the world to align together, it’s not so easy. I don’t worry too much about it. It’s more whatever it is we have to deal with it and adapt to that.”
Premier League teams previously voted to close the summer transfer window before the season started and Aston Villa boss Dean Smith feels there is no room for complaints.
“The clubs voted for it, that was the be all and end all,” he said. “We have to just deal with it.”
