Is the early closure of the transfer window a stroke of genius or a mistake?

When the Premier League voted to close the transfer window before the start of the season, few envisaged the kind of impact such a decision would have on the Premier League. But now, with just 3 days to transfer deadline day, it is becoming more and more apparent that reaching such a conclusion was damming mistake.

At the time the vote was cast, 14 clubs voted in favour of the early closure, 5 voted against it, while one club abstained. After the vote, it was decided that transfer business would end on 9th August 2018, a day before the start of the Premier League.

Several managers had expressed their frustration at the way they lost their players to richer clubs in the closing days of the transfer window with less than enough time to sign replacements, while others felt pretty uncomfortable preparing their players and getting them ready for the season and even use them in one or two games in the league, only for richer clubs to prise them away, leaving the clubs totally frustrated.

Samir Nasri left Arsenal with less than enough time for adequate replacement

There's a feeling that the moment a particular player learns of a possible transfer to another club, their commitment, spirit and focus at the current club falls dramatically. This is due to not wanting to jeopardize their opportunity for a transfer by, say, getting an injury. Samir Nasri played for Arsenal in the Gunners' 2-0 loss to Liverpool at the Emirates, the Reds first win over Arsenal at their own tuff in 11 years before his move to Manchester City, in a not-so-convincing performance.

Cesc Fabregas was said to have been injured with his move to Barcelona imminent. Surprisingly, the Spaniard declared himself fit to face Real Madrid in the 2nd leg of the following Wednesday's Super Copa Espana upon his unveiling as Barcelona player. Perhaps that confirms the rumour that he had refused to train or play in an attempt to either force a move or ensure there wasn't any possibility of an injury that would scupper his dream move to the Camp Nou.

No manager would want to have their players unsettled by transfer talk after the start of the season.

Speaking to The Independent, Jose Mourinho said of the decision to close the window early:

"My opinion is that we have to adapt to the situation, it doesn't matter what. But as a football manager and not a market man, just as a football man, as someone who wants to work for the team and work the players, I would prefer the window to close as soon as possible so everybody knows the players we have.

" The deals would be done earlier and nobody would be waiting for the last week and we would not have the situation that players play game number one for one team and game number two for another."

Mourinho and many other managers have genuine reasons for, but the decision has factors going against it that in many ways could be detrimental to particular clubs and the Premier League as a whole. Take a look:

#1 It puts Premier League clubs at a big disadvantage

The Premier League is disadvantaged

Whereas the window closes in 3 days' time in the Premier League, it remains wide open elsewhere in Europe. This means other clubs outside England can continue buying players in England while English clubs cannot buy any players in replacement. This is a terrible situation. We all know the allure of playing for a club like Real Madrid.

We also know that the Spanish giants have sold Cristiano Ronaldo and could be in the market for a replacement. If they came out with all guns blazing to sign a Premier League player, say, Harry Kane or Eden Hazard, and the player was determined to force a move, the selling club could be forced to give in, sell the player without having the opportunity to replace them.

It is also clear that as the market edges closer and closer to a conclusion, some deals that weren't available suddenly become available. For Instance, at the start of the 2013 offseason, Mesut Ozil wasn't available for transfer, but he suddenly became available when it became clear that Gareth Bale was transferring from Tottenham Hotspur to Real Madrid.

This presented Arsenal with an opportunity they hadn't seen coming, landing the German playmaker in a £42.5m move. This, therefore, puts European clubs, with whom English clubs compete in the Champions League and the Europa League at an advantage of pulling off major deals English clubs would have taken advantage of had they been on the same wavelength.

#2 It breeds unfairness to the small English clubs

Small clubs will get unfair treatment

Selling clubs always want to get as much money from their players as possible, and this is ideal when there is a bidding war between clubs jostling for the same players. As small clubs are not as moneyed as their bigger counterparts, they will always lose out as the big boys swoop in quickly to tie up deals while the small clubs weight for the latter-day bargain deals.

This perhaps explains why a club like Burnley who would supposedly have wished to sign more players, have only signed one player so far, (in Middlesbrough's Gibson) this late in the window.

Therefore, in the spirit of fairness, the window should have been open to all clubs across Europe for the same length of time to give equal opportunity to all clubs, big or small. This would allow even those who operate on shoestring budgets to fish in the waters most fitting to them, not to make all clubs fish in one small lake that would make some miss out on valuable fish.

#3 Encourages financial recklessness

Only big clubs can afford to sign Maguire

All clubs ought to keep their accounts books well balanced to stand themselves in good stead. In trying to do this, clubs, especially those without global brands should buy players within their means to avoid spending more than they earn. It is well known that English players are very expensive to sign and can only be afforded by the big guns. It is for this reason that Leicester's Harry Maguire can only be signed by a club Manchester United's stature.

This means for a small Premier League side to get themselves a good player that would make them competitive, they have to look beyond the English shores, or pay expensively. Fulham recently signed Jean Michael Seri from Nice, West Ham got Felipe Anderson, Andriy Yarmolenko and Issa Diop, spending the kind of fees they would probably not have wished to spend.

But because there's a fear that the window could shut without signing players that would make them achieve their goals, they end up punching above their weight. If their transfer gambles don't work out, such exorbitant fees could come back to haunt them.

But if the window remained normal, there would be many excellent players that such clubs could get at a relatively cheap cost. Sadly, by the time they will become available, the window will have been slammed shut on them.

#4 Some big clubs will be denied adequate preparation

Clubs won't have adequate preparation

This is a World Cup year and with it comes a few challenges. Tottenham Hotspur had the highest number of players in the last four of the World Cup. Many of those have just returned and haven't prepared enough. Mauricio Pochettino would have loved to take a closer look at his World Cup stars to find out what condition there are in before deciding where to strengthen, as some might return carrying injuries they sustained during the World Cup.

Unfortunately, the transfer window hasn't afforded him such time as it closes in a two days, and the most dreadful thing is that Spurs haven't signed a single player, with just a couple of days to go!

The same can be said of Maurizio Sarri at Chelsea, who came in late to take over from Antonio Conte with the distraction of the World Cup. This has seen his most important stars return very late. Ngolo Kante, Eden Hazard, Thibault Courtois haven't played a single preseason game, while some are still being linked with moves away from the club.

Given that he is new in the job, he needed to meet his players, assess them, know them before deciding who to buy and who to let go of. He won't have that due to the decision to close the window earlier than the rest of Europe.

Whereas the decision to close the window on August 9th has its advantages, its negativity could have a far-reaching impact that its architects could have imagined. The status quo ought to have been maintained and any changes should have cut across, affecting all leagues.