Why does the transfer window close on 1 September in the UK and what is the deadline?

Monaco’s Anthony Martial could seal a move to Manchester United on deadline day

It is officially 1 September 2015 and the transfer window is now closed. Except in England where the deadline is not 31 August like every other year.

Why? Because 31 August was a bank holiday in England. Deals cannot be completed if it is not a working day, according to Premier League rules. While the deadline is generally 11 PM on 31 August, this time the transfer window will close at 6 PM on 1 September for the Premier League and the lower Football Leagues. The Scottish transfer deadline, however, closes at midnight on 1 September, according to BBC.

Not all countries have their transfer window open on 1 September

While British clubs can still sign players until 6 PM today, the rest of Europe cannot sign any more players. The other big leagues like Spain’s La Liga, France’s Ligue 1, Germany’s Bundesliga, Italy’s Serie A and the Dutch Eredivisie have concluded their transfer business.

The only other exception is Portugal whose transfer window is open till 22 September. Other leagues outside Europe which don’t have their off-season at the same time as the European summer usually have their transfer window open during the summer months.

Clubs outside the UK cannot sign players, but they are still allowed to sell a player if they get a good offer and the player wants to leave.

Can a club sign a player after stipulated deadline?

The deadline is 6 PM and deals usually cannot be completed before the transfer deadline. However, there have been instances where players were signed after the deadline.

On paper, it is not allowed. But circumstances, such as adverse weather conditions preventing the player from travelling to the club for a medical, may cause the Premier League to give clubs some leeway – as long as they complete the necessary paperwork before the stipulated deadline.

Kevin De Bruyne Manchester City — Manchester City signed Kevin De Bruyne for a club record fee of £55m

Which EPL transfer window was the most expensive?

Since clubs usually leave their business to the last minute to get the best possible deals from negotiations, deadline day sees a lot of transfers take place – especially high-profile ones. Using the approaching deadline as a tool to get desperate clubs to spend big bucks, transfer fees can range from very expensive to the downright ridiculous.

As such, the money spent in the last few transfer windows, especially in the Premier League, has risen to astronomical levels. The summer transfer window alone has seen record-breaking deals in the past few years.

Last summer’s transfer window saw EPL clubs spend a total of £835m in transfer fees. Of the big signings, Angel Di Maria’s £59.7m move from Real Madrid to Manchester United was the highest of the lot, smashing all records in EPL transfers. Other noteworthy signings included Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona to Arsenal for £35m, Diego Costa to Chelsea from Atletico Madrid for £32m, Eliaquim Mangala to Manchester City from Porto for £30m and Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona to Chelsea for £30m.

Surprisingly, the 2008/09 summer transfer is still the third most expensive window so far, the first time it crossed the half-billion mark.