One of the things I’ve been meaning to write about, but have kept forgetting to, is the change being made to the English transfer window.
It closes early this season, on 9 August.
I can understand, sort of, why the English leagues have taken the decision that their national transfer window will close early from now on.
They believe the whole thing has become a big distraction and they are right, and for more than just their clubs.
It’s also a distraction for ours, and in deciding to lock it up earlier than the rest of Europe they have done us one almighty big favour.
Not only will there be less talk about our players leaving for that league, but prices will fall across Europe as the biggest player in the game quits early. If global transfer prices have risen to a staggering degree that’s in no small part because in England even modest players go for ludicrous fees and their clubs spend fortunes on foreign talent too.
When their window closes early in August there will be a cooling of the marketplace which can only be good for us.
Their window closes in four weeks.
Celtic gets another three weeks to strengthen the squad.
It is inconceivable that we will sell any of our players to an English club in that timescale, as it coincides with our later Champions League qualifiers. If we were to do that, the fans backlash would be severe. As I don’t anticipate that, not only will our first team squad be reasonably safe from grasping hands but we’ll have a chance to look at who’s available out there without the English teams getting in the way.
There will be talent out there who in a stand-off with English clubs we might not otherwise get, and as we’ve proven to be a good gateway club to the EPL that can only stand us in good stead. I am not suggesting we wait that long for signings – we can’t afford to, if I’m being honest – but it will not hurt to save some of the cash until then.
There will still be a chance of losing top players to continental clubs, but each nation in Europe has its own “profile” for signings and the last time I checked none had a stellar record of shopping in the SPL marketplace.
In fact, few of them sign players from the UK, so I wonder if we’ve got much to worry about on that score.
It may just be that with the Champions League path getting tougher that there’s a silver lining on the horizon for us just the same. There will be players in England who won’t get games for their clubs but who, in four weeks, will be stranded in a strange limbo.
We might have a shot at getting some of those players as well as having a better chance of signing talent from Europe.
It’s a strange decision the English clubs have taken here, but it may well be one that benefits us in some small fashion.
Time will tell.