Transfer window shopping could be delayed by change – Sam Ricketts

The transfer window for Premier League and Championship clubs shuts on Thursday, August 8, at 5pm.

But the market remains open for League One and League Two clubs until Monday, September 2, at 5pm – as August 31 falls on a matchday Saturday.

Last summer the windows for all professional English clubs closed simultaneously on August 9, leaving third and fourth tier outfits far less time to build squads.

Ricketts acknowledges that clubs from the top two tiers tend to run the rule over promising young players during pre-season before committing to loaning them out towards the end of the window.

“The thing this year is the window shuts later than it does for the Championship,” said Ricketts.

“That does change (things). People who are maybe coming out on loan, certainly in the Premier League and Championship, will be there for pre-season and might decide in three weeks they’re available for loan.

“But come the closing of the Championship window we are the highest (ranked) that players can come to. It changes the dynamic this year.”

Town have bolstered their ranks significantly this summer and three of the seven new signings are loans from clubs in the top two divisions.

Steve Morison (Millwall), Ryan Giles (Wolves) and Max O’Leary (Bristol City) have checked in on a temporary basis. Ricketts has said he wants to fill all five loans at Town this season.

The boss admitted that leaving deals until next month – after the season’s curtain-raiser on August 3 – is a dangerous tactic.

“You don’t really want to wait until August, when your season has started, you want them in as early as you can,” he continued. “But it’s a dangerous one isn’t it?

“If you’re patient because you think you might get someone later in the window and then you don’t, your market has gone.

“The five other players you might have taken have been snapped up. It’s a fine line.”