Summer transfer window dates announced

With Everton’s 2017-18 season now behind us, let’s look forward to the summer transfer window which opens in just three days, and it promises to be a very hectic few months for Everton who could see changes all the way from the Chairman of the club, through the Board and management, down to a number of squad players.

The Premier League had a collective vote on when to close the window, and the resolution was passed for deadline day to now be on 9th August with the window closing at 5pm BST, which is the Thursday before the first weekend of the Premier League schedule.

Per FIFA regulations, the summer window has to be at least 12 weeks long, which then means it’ll open well before the traditional 1st June date. Here are the most important dates of the summer summarized.

• 13th May, 2018 - 2017-18 Premier League season ends
• 17th May, 2018 - Summer transfer window opens
• 28th May, 2018 - Pre-World Cup friendlies begin
• 8th June, 2018 - FIFA transfer window opens
• 9th June, 2018 - Pre-World Cup friendlies end
• 14th June, 2018 - World Cup 2018 begins
• 15th July, 2018 - World Cup 2018 ends
• 9th August, 2018 - Summer transfer window closes
• 10th August, 2018 - 2018-19 Premier League season begins

Last season, Everton’s pre-season started 13th July 2017, primarily because the first Europa League qualifier was two weeks later on the 27th. This will not be a worry for the Blues this time around, and Everton will get to continue on their training camp for longer this summer.

The changes to the transfer window have only been adopted by the Premier League and the Championship so far. However, with the other major European leagues still sticking to their Jun 1st - August 31st schedule, English teams could still find themselves at a disadvantage since they will be unable to add to their squads past 9th August but could still lose players to teams outside England until the 31st, which would not allow them to replace those players.