While the winter sales in your local shopping centre may be continuing, football clubs across Europe will have no such luck in grabbing a bargain as of next week when the January transfer window reaches its deadline.
With the mid-season window always an interesting time of year here’s all you need to know about the January transfer period.
In England, the deadline for the transfer window is 11pm on Monday 1st February, 2016.
Hang on – if it’s the January transfer window, why does it close in February?
This year the last day of January, the 31st, falls on a Sunday, meaning that clubs are granted one extra day by the league to get those final deals over the line.
Does the transfer window close at the same time in leagues across Europe?
Right, here’s where it gets a little complicated.
The leagues in France and Italy will see their respective transfer window close on Monday 1st February, the same day as the Premier League and the rest of the English divisions.
However, over in Spain clubs must have all of their signings completed and checked off by 11pm on Sunday 31st January, a full day before the window over here expires.
It’s also important to remember that when the window closes a club can no longer buy a player but may still sell to overseas clubs. So, for example, Real Madrid could still transfer one of their players to Bayern Munich up until 5pm on Tuesday 2nd February, despite the Spanish window closing on Sunday.
