Clement: Get window shut before the season

PREMIER LEAGUE chiefs have held talks over shutting the transfer window early next year to stop player sagas dominating the start of the season. Swansea City manager Paul Clement revealed the topic was discussed at a meeting last week as he deals with the fall-out of Everton’s protracted interest in Gylfi Sigurdsson. Clement left Sigurdsson out of his team, and there are similar issues with Virgil van Dijk at Southampton. Premier League managers agreed a proposal at their annual meeting in London last Tuesday for the transfer window to shut before the season starts. ‘If the window is shut before the season starts, everything is sorted out and we can get on with the football,’ Clement said. ‘The majority of clubs are in favour but maybe all of us have to be for it to go through. It could happen next year.’ Clement’s own transfer plans are on hold as he waits for Everton to agree a fee for Sigurdsson, which is expected to be close to £50million. The Swansea boss and Southampton manager Mauricio Pellegrino both left out their star men in Saturday’s unremarkable 0-0 draw between two clubs struggling with the uncertainty surrounding want-away players. Van Dijk has been absent from training at Southampton, but his captain Steven Davis said: ‘We’d welcome him back with open arms — that goes without question because of the quality that he’s got.’