The Premier League summer transfer window system is likely to change again this year, according to reports, with a vote in February.

The Athletic report that there are three options for the Premier League clubs to vote on.

The first is to maintain the current system. The Premier League transfer window closes before the start of the season, but the European deadline isn’t until the end of August.

The second is to switch back to the old system. The league would move their transfer deadline to align it with the rest of Europe.

The third is to combine the two systems. The internal English window would close before the start of the season, but English clubs could still do business – in and out – with European clubs until the end of August.

Sources suggest there are big splits between various clubs in terms of which system they favour. The hybrid model appears to be the favourite though.

Personally, that seems like the best solution to me. The situation to avoid is the one where Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain plays against Liverpool a few days before joining them. That’s rarely an issue when it comes to European club transfers.

It’s certainly not ideal to have a European club poaching your players a few weeks into the season when you can’t replace them. When has that actually happened though?

The only vaguely high-profile departures after the English deadline were Nacho Monreal to Real Sociedad and Alexis Sanchez on loan to Inter Milan. Maybe Matteo Darmian, Yannick Bolasie and Henrikh Mkhitaryan at a real stretch.

Those players all moved because they were surplus to requirements or struggling for games. In hindsight, Arsenal should have kept Monreal around, but we only know that a few months later post-injuries.

If extending the deadline specifically for European club transfers keeps people happy, so be it. For me, the new system is working well enough already.