Premier League: Transfer window change to be voted on by clubs
Premier League and English Football League clubs are discussing plans to close the summer transfer window before the start of the season next year.
The current window, in line with many other European leagues, closes on 31 August - almost three weeks after the start of the Premier League campaign.
A vote is set to take place at the next Premier League shareholders meeting on 7 September.
The EFL will also table the matter for discussion next month.
"The EFL board and its clubs have previously expressed the opinion that closing the window in advance of the season commencing would be an improvement on the current position," an EFL spokesman said.
"It will be important that all the consequences of such a decision are fully considered, as the requirements of our clubs are different to those in Europe's top flight leagues."
What do Fifa regulations say?
Players may only be registered during one of two annual registration periods. In Europe these are the summer and January transfer windows and are fixed by each individual national association.
The first window begins once the season has finished and must not exceed 12 weeks. The second, which usually occurs mid-season, must not exceed four weeks.
For the Premier League and EFL, Fifa regulations state the transfer window should close no later than 1 September, or as near as practical if it clashes with a weekend.
However, players whose contracts have expired prior to the end of the transfer window may sign for another club outside the registration period.
As leagues in confederations around the world start and finish at different times, so do their transfer windows - for example, the USA's first window began on 14 February this year and ended on 8 May, while China's opening registration period ran from 1 January to 28 February.
Analysis
BBC Sport's Simon Stone
As with all issues affecting the Premier League, it will need 14 clubs to vote in favour before any change can be made.
It is a complicated scenario, not least because it has the potential to put England's top-flight teams at a disadvantage because rivals across Europe will be active in the market for up to three weeks after the Premier League window has closed.
The plan would have no power to prevent a club such as Barcelona targeting Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho - as they have done this summer - for instance.
As Europe's major leagues all start at different points - France was a week before England, with Spain, Italy and Germany a week after - a Europe-wide change is not going to happen.
There is also the potential for clubs who do not agree - Watford are said to be against it - or agents to mount a legal challenge.
However, the disruption caused by the continuation of the transfer window beyond the start of the season has become so great, and started to affect so many teams, the feeling that something has to be done has begun to take hold.
What do Premier League managers say?
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and Swansea boss Paul Clement are among those to have called for a change.
Klopp was without playmaker Coutinho for Liverpool's Premier League opener against Watford, and midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson was absent for Swansea's game at Southampton.
"An earlier transfer deadline day would have helped us this year. In general, it makes sense that when the season starts that the planning is over," Klopp said.
Clement added: "A better situation would be if the transfer window closed before the start of the season.
"I don't really understand why it goes to the end of August. I know there's talks about that changing in future. That's my opinion that it should do."
According to research from betting company Bwin, seven of the 10 biggest transfers in the past five seasons which have been completed after the league campaign started involved Premier League clubs.
They were Gareth Bale to Real Madrid, Angel di Maria and Anthony Martial to Manchester United, Kevin de Bruyne and Nicolas Otamendi to Manchester City, and Mesut Ozil and Shkodran Mustafi to Arsenal.
The Premier League makes 24% of its signings after 15 August, while 12% of its signings are on transfer deadline day.
Last season's runners-up Tottenham typically make their signings late in the transfer window,and Bwin says 47% take place after the season starts.
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