The Premier League has announced that its summer transfer window will close before the new season starts, after the clubs agreed a rule amendment.

The rule amendment means the summer window will close at 17:00 on the Thursday before the start of the season.

Next season, the deadline for transfers by Premier League Clubs will be 17:00 BST on Thursday 9 August 2018.

The new rule, which applies only to the acquisition of players, will be for Premier League clubs only and has no bearing on other leagues and competitions.

Clubs will still have the ability to sell players to other leagues where the the transfer window would still be open, as they do now to leagues that have different transfer window dates, such as Major League Soccer.

Clubs agreed today, after discussing the topic at length at previous shareholders’ meetings (February 2017 and June 2017).