Roy Hodgson: Some high-profile Premier League bosses unhappy at transfer window deadline

BY SAM SMITH

Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson says Premier League bosses are unhappy with the English transfer window ending earlier than the ones across the rest of Europe.

Football chiefs decided last year that the domestic transfer window would close before the start of the season, rather than the end of August, so that players were not unsettled by the prospect of moves after the Premier League had begun. 

But Hodgson claimed that there is some bemusement, particularly among the top bosses in the division. 

“It was discussed at the Premier League managers meeting that I attended on Tuesday,” he said. “Certainly Jurgen [Klopp], Mauricio [Pochettino] and Pep Guardiola had very clear opinions on this subject.

“It affects them more, there’s no doubt, it affects the teams at a very, very high level who have players of a very high level who are likely to be stolen from clubs outside of England. I don’t fully understand why the decision was taken to close it earlier. 

“Maybe when it happened, England was expecting the other nations to come with us and follow suit. They haven’t done so. These are things which can be looked at again and certainly if there is lobbying from managers of that very high profile is anything to go by, it wouldn’t surprise me if you didn’t change back again. 

“It will be a matter for debate, the clubs will decide. I don’t have a strong opinion on it because I don’t understand why it was changed in the first place.”