This transfer window is a bit different this season due to the disruption caused by the pandemic. Rather than having a single deadline there are actually two, one that affects dealings with clubs abroad and one for domestic deals. It’s not all that complicated but it’s definitely different to the usual deadline situation.
Here’s a quick summary of what the rules are for the upcoming deadlines and how it could affect Huddersfield Town and their ongoing transfer business.
Next Monday’s deadline – Monday 5 October 2020
Monday’s deadline is the last day for Premier League clubs to do deals with other Premier League clubs and those abroad. So it will mean top-flight teams in England will only be able to buy, sell and loan players with clubs from the leagues below them in England.
EFL teams like Huddersfield Town will be able to buy, sell and loan players with other English clubs after Monday’s deadline but it will be their last chance to bring in players from foreign clubs.
This deadline will have more of an impact on Premier League teams than those in the Championship like Town, as top-flight teams are more likely to shop abroad or trade with other clubs in the Premier League.
The domestic deadline, two weeks today – Friday 16 October 2020
This is the deadline that is most relevant for Town, as it’s the last chance we will have to do deals with teams in England. After this date we will know for sure what squad Carlos Corberán will have to work with and the various transfer sagas the club has been embroiled in will be resolved one way or another.
It’s likely that this will be the busier deadline day for teams in the Championship and below as the bulk of the transfers in those leagues are with domestic teams rather than clubs that are based abroad.
What impact could the first deadline have on Town’s transfer dealings with Kongolo and Grant?
Town are currently in protracted negotiations to sell Karlan Grant and Terence Kongolo, with Premier League teams being their most likely destinations. This means that there is still two weeks to get these deals done. However, the upcoming European and Premier League deadline on Monday may help spark some life into these deals.
Clubs that are interested in buying these two players will most likely have a list of alternative targets they wish to pursue from other clubs, and those other targets may be at clubs in leagues that they won’t be able to trade with after the European deadline. So it wouldn’t surprise me if we saw some movement on these potential transfers as Premier League clubs try to conclude their business before this first deadline.
It’s also possible that we could see foreign clubs swoop in from nowhere to try and snap one of them up before the deadline, particularly Kongolo who is better known in Europe thanks to his time spent playing in other leagues and international experience.
If the first deadline passes and Grant and Kongolo haven’t yet left then it could be argued that we are then in a slightly stronger negotiating position because Premier League clubs can no longer buy players from abroad or other Premier League teams so they’ve got a much smaller pool of talent to shop in.
How do these deadlines affect Huddersfield Town’s transfers?
There’s very little happening with Town in the rumour mill at the moment. This is most likely because any further deals can only be sanctioned once we’ve got rid of one or both of Grant and Kongolo. With their wages freed up and some of their transfer free available to reinvest it will hopefully plunge Town back into the market looking for a replacement for Grant (Town have already replaced Kongolo with Naby Sarr).
One of the reasons the club gave for getting rid of Danny Cowley was that he was keen on bringing in established Championship players whereas the club wanted to exploit foreign markets where they think there’s better value. So it’s possible that our transfer committee could have some unknown targets lined up ahead of this first deadline. I’m skeptical this will happen as it seems that most of our transfers are rumoured in the press a long time before they actually happen these days and there isn’t any talk at the moment of imminent arrivals.
One of the implications of Monday’s deadline will be that Premier League clubs will have a clearer picture of the squads they will have to work with this season and will be more willing to loan out their youth players where they feel they are surplus. Town have already used the loan market to bring in Pereria and Eiting but could go down that route again.
The second deadline will be more like the usual kind of deadline day for Town as it’s the last-chance saloon for us to bring players in. I’d hope that we’ll have concluded most of our business by then and will be able to avoid the frenzy that occurs in the final few hours of the window. But it’s been a very slow-moving transfer market up to now and it may be that deals can only be concluded when the clock starts ticking around to the final hours of the transfer window.