West Ham's Karren Brady reveals '17 out of 20' Premier League clubs favour shutting transfer window early

Brady's comments suggest West Ham are likely to back the Premier League proposal
LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images
James Benge17 August 2017

West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady says 17 of the 20 Premier League clubs were “broadly in favour” of closing the summer transfer window before the season begins in March.

A vote on the matter is expected by Premier League clubs in a meeting on September 7 after a discussion between top flight managers last month.

Any motion to push the transfer window forward would require the backing of 70 per cent of top flight clubs but, speaking on Sky Sports, Brady suggested that there was a strong chance of the change going through.

“We'd started debating this around March 2017 at the Premier League and 17 clubs were broadly in favour of the window being closed,” Brady said.

“I think the main issue is that it protects the integrity of the squad, you know where you are, you have to get on with it and the players know that.

“It's mainly for the club, fans and manager to know: this is who we've got, this is the squad, these are the numbers, on we go.

“I think in reality you already know what positions you need, how you're going to spend [early on] and there's also the January window.

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“I think to close the window early, for the integrity of the league, is the right decision.”

A unilateral decision by the Premier League would not preclude clubs from selling to European sides before the continent’s transfer window closes on August 31.

Despite having kicked off their own season West Ham are looking for reinforcements and remain in talks with Sporting over a move for midfielder William Carvalho.

Brady offered an optimistic assessment of West Ham’s ability to pull off what would be a club record deal of around £30million.

“It's all very complex signing players. You think you make a decision to buy them but there's so many various different layers and actually getting it done and doing it in the time-frame that you want isn't always possible.

“But I know they're working very hard on [the transfer].”

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