The transfer window should close before the season starts

The summer transfer window has always seemed to me to be to long and over complicated. It is crazy that it finishes after the season has started and just a few days before international matches.

This year it has been extended until Monday September 2nd, with internationals on Thursday 5th, Friday 6th and Tuesday 10th September. At this stage there has been no time given that it closes, it might be 5 o'clock, it might be midnight.

In Italy this year it's 11am, in Spain and France it's open all day, Germany is planning to close at 6pm, yet it seems clubs will still be able to sell players internationally that evening, but not buy.

Why can't it all just be uniform? Why can't UEFA simply say, this is the date it closes, at midnight, get your business done, no extensions. Simple.

Would it not make more sense to close it mid way through August before the season has started? The press would still have their field day, those hanging on every word Sky say, can still feed their TV addiction. What is going to be lost by shortening it two or three weeks?

Clubs would simply have to get their finger out and get deals done instead of dragging them on and on, waiting for deadline day, then panic buying. They would benefit by having their players for the start of the season instead of the ludicrous situation we had with Modric for instance in 2011, when he didn't want to play in the 5-1 home defeat to Man City and didn't even bother trying. He stayed that year but only knuckled down after the window was shut. What use is a player like that to a club? If the window was shut that problem wouldn't have arisen.

Players could get used to their new teammates, instead of flying in to sign a deal and then flying straight out again to join their international squad for the next week. Their new club teammates may not actually see him until Thursday September 12th this year with a game to be played that Saturday.

We are not talking about this only affecting one or two signings. The 2010 summer transfer window saw 32% of all transfers completed on the final day and 49% in the final week. Surprisingly only 35% of those transfers involved a fee so there wasn't even that stumbling block to overcome.

In England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France it opens on July 1st, so why does it need to open on June 9th in Scotland and June 11th in Holland or Turkey?

It's time UEFA put their foot down with the leagues around Europe.

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