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The Premier League transfer window will not be rolling into the late hours as it has become accustomed to after the deadline was changed.
In the past, Premier League clubs have been hard at work late into the night – and sometimes into the early hours – in a bid to complete any late deals before the window closes and they are stuck with squads until January.
However, this summer’s transfer window will shut at 6pm on Tuesday 01 September, but while that may feel like an earlier cut-off that usual, it’s actually later.
The rest of Europe saw the transfer window slam shut in dramatic circumstances at midnight on Monday, with Real Madrid somehow failing to seal the £29m deal for Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea in the saga of the summer.
Only the Premier League, Football League and Scottish Football League – along with those in Finland, Israel, Portugal, Romania and Ukraine- are free to sign players today as the transfer window must close on a working day, meaning that the cut-off would come on the first day after the weekend and Bank Holiday Monday.
Manchester United's alternative 23-man squad of transfer targets
Show all 23
However, under usual circumstances the transfer window would still shut at 11pm, meaning a late night for any avid football fan and a sleep-deprived and unproductive shift at work the following day. But the deadline has been brought forward to 6pm due to clubs in the Champions League having to register their squads by midnight tonight, and the early cut-off is supposed to prevent any possible deals from dragging on and causing havoc with Uefa’s squad lists.
Should anyone miss out on their preferred targets, they will have to wait into 00:01 on 1 January 2016 before they can sign another player and resume any pursuits that ended without a resolution.
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