EPL clubs vote to return to old transfer deadline

English Premier League (EPL) clubs agreed on Thursday to move the last day of the close-season transfer window back to the end of August or early September, in line with Europe’s top leagues.

Premier League clubs voted in favour of changing the transfer window in 2017, bringing deadline day forward to before the start of the season the following year.

European clubs continued to trade for three weeks longer, leading several managers, including Liverpool boss Juergen Klopp, to complain that the move had handed rivals an undue advantage.

Under the system last year, Premier League clubs were barred from recruiting from Aug. 9 but could still lose players to European rivals until Sept. 2.

The decision to return to the old system was taken at a shareholders meeting, the Premier League said in a statement on its website here

Accordingly, the next transfer window will close at 5 p.m. BST (1900 EAT) on Sept. 1, because August 31 is a UK bank holiday.