6 Sep
~2 Sep · UEFA
Oct 2026
31 Dec · calendar 2026
Where the twenty finished
The window shut at 11pm on 1 September 2026. Deadline day was never decided by what a club wanted but by what it could register: a signing had to fit inside the squad cost ratio — 70% of revenue plus player-trading profit for clubs in Europe, 85% for everyone else — and, for clubs under a UEFA settlement, inside the transfer-balance condition of that settlement too. No Premier League club can register another signing until January. On this tracker’s estimates, Manchester United ended the window with the most room and Ipswich Town furthest past its limit — six clubs finished above the line they are measured against. Full workings on the headroom table.
At least four windows were still open, which is why selling did not stop when buying did. The Saudi Pro League runs to 6 September and the Süper Lig to the 4th; MLS closed on 2 September (the Saudi date is contested — see below) — so a Premier League club could still move a player and his wages off the numerator after it had stopped adding to it. Aston Villa did exactly that on 2 September, selling Leon Bailey to Olympiacos for £3.4m and taking ~£9.7m/yr of grossed wage off their numerator a day after they could no longer add to it — which also settles a window this page cannot put a date on. Greece was open on the 2nd; no closing date for it could be sourced anywhere reliable, so none is asserted here, and none is stored in the gate that polices which rumour cards may still be live. “At least four” is the honest count. Bundesliga clubs finished earliest, on 31 August; Serie A, LaLiga and the Premier League all shut on the 1st. A player already out of contract can be signed at any time, and an under-18 arriving on training compensation is not moving a professional registration, so neither is bound by the deadline.
On the Saudi date, which this site had wrong. It was carried here as 12 October until 2 September, on a single source. Better ones disagree: Wikipedia and Goal put the registration period at 22 July to 6 September, one tracker says 11 September. The 12 October figure is 11.7 weeks from the open — essentially FIFA’s twelve-week maximum for a registration period, which reads like the longest period permissible rather than the date announced. It is now carried at 6 September, the earliest credible date, because the conservative error is the early one: telling a reader a shut window is open invents deals. No source reachable from here separates Saudi domestic from international registration, so no such split is modelled — if one exists, the international deadline is the one that governs a sale out of England.
Most room left
- Manchester United £114m/yr 55.5% vs 70% · ≈£568m of fees
- Tottenham Hotspur £93m/yr 69.7% vs 85% · ≈£465m of fees
- Manchester City £75m/yr 60.8% vs 70% · ≈£374m of fees
- Arsenal £68m/yr 61.6% vs 70% · ≈£338m of fees
- Chelsea £56m/yr 76.5% vs 85% · ≈£279m of fees
- Everton £49m/yr 67.1% vs 85% · ≈£247m of fees
Over the line
- Ipswich Town over by £18m/yr 94.7% vs 85% · no room under the limit
- Fulham over by £16m/yr 92.6% vs 85% · no room under the limit
- Crystal Palace over by £10m/yr 73.4% vs 70% · no room under the limit
- Brentford over by £5m/yr 87.3% vs 85% · no room under the limit
- AFC Bournemouth over by £4m/yr 71.5% vs 70% · no room under the limit
- Nottingham Forest over by £3m/yr 86.2% vs 85% · no room under the limit
The dates that matter
When does the summer 2026 transfer window close?
1 September 2026 at 11pm UK time for Premier League clubs. The window opened on 15 June, later than usual because of the World Cup.
What is the List A deadline?
Clubs in UEFA competition must submit their 25-man List A squad by around 2 September, the day after the window shuts. Registration is where the squad cost rules bite: a club that cannot fit a signing inside its limits may be unable to register him.
Can a club sign a player it cannot register?
It can complete the transfer, but the player cannot play in the competition he is not registered for. For clubs under a UEFA settlement, registering new players also depends on the transfer balance condition in that settlement.
What happens after deadline day?
Attention moves to the accounting deadlines: the Premier League's squad cost checkpoint in October, the UEFA ratio freeze on 31 December for calendar 2026, and the final PSR assessment in January 2027.