Transfer deadline day is here and the January window is set to come to a close after yet another busy month of activity.
The winter window can prove to be very difficult when completing transfers, with clubs either desperate to hang onto certain players or refusing to pay a certain price for one of their targets.
In other scenarios, many players don’t fancy leaving halfway through the season, so negotiations can be slow at the best of times.
However, transfer deadline day can force clubs into changing their minds over certain situations at the last minute, with very little time left on the clock.
And that is when the ‘deal sheets’ come into play, to ensure that no transfer is missed out on ahead of the 11pm deadline.
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The January transfer window will close at 11pm on January 31 for the Premier League and EFL, meaning that no transfers can take place after this period.
The only way that any of these clubs will be able to sign players between February 1 and the end of the season is through emergency loans or if the player is a free agent.
However, on transfer deadline day, it is still possible for transfers to be officially completed after the 11pm deadline.
Clubs can use things called ‘deal sheets’ which, if they are submitted within two hours of the 11pm deadline, still allows a player to move from one team to another after the transfer window slams shut.
The sheet allows a club to prove that a deal has been agreed between both clubs, which then grants them extra time to get the deal done - but this can only be submitted between 9-11pm.
And should a deal sheet be submitted in this two hour period, all the documentation must be fully completed in order for it to be allowed.
This is usually why many deals are confirmed up until 1am following deadline day, as clubs are granted an extra two hours to get everything done.
This can prove useful to help get the finer details of a contract nailed down and also allow time for a medical to be completed as the window goes to the wire.
Arsenal famously signed Andrei Arshavin in 2009 almost 24 hours after the deadline had passed, with the transfer finally completed officially at 4:52pm the following day, though the Premier League and FA were content all paperwork had been completed as required.
