FIFA are recommending short-term contract extensions and moving the summer transfer window as a result of the current season shutdown.

Sky Sports News report that FIFA are recommending clubs extend existing contracts until such time as the current season ends. There are many players either on loan or with deals expiring this summer. If they don’t extend, they may leave before the current league campaign has a chance to finish.

FIFA are also suggesting new contracts won’t come into play until the new campaign begins. Presumably, this is in reference to players who are set to join new clubs, so those clubs don’t have to pay extra for players they don’t have available yet.

The other common-sense change is that FIFA are planning to allow the summer transfer window to move to whenever sensible between the end of this season and the start of the next. Obviously, we don’t know exactly when that will be yet.

It’s hard to argue these changes don’t make sense. There’s still a huge issue around convincing players to actually accept short-term contract extensions, though.

If they don’t want to, they don’t have to, and FIFA can’t force them to. I guess we cross that bridge when we get to it.