When does it open? Who could be signed? When is deadline day? Football writer Ben Bloom details all you need to know about the winter transfer window.
With the 2025/26 Premier League season approaching its halfway point, the time for clubs to change their squads with new signings, departures and loan deals is almost upon us.
Here is everything you need to know about the January transfer window…
January 2026 transfer window
While the summer remains the primary period for football clubs to buy, sell or borrow players, the January transfer window offers them another opportunity to freshen up their squads in mid-season.
When does it open and close?
This year’s winter window opens for Premier League clubs on Thursday 1 January and closes at 19:00 GMT on Monday 2 February (because the customary closing date of 31 January falls on a weekend).
In the summer of 2025, the Premier League's 20 clubs reportedly spent more than £3 billion on new players.
The winter transfer window is shorter, spanning just one month, but clubs could still be spending huge sums to boost their squads for the second half of the 2025/26 campaign.
Meanwhile, Premier League players who are due to be out of contract at the end of the season are permitted to negotiate and announce pre-contract agreements with clubs from outside England, allowing them to move for no transfer fee in the summer.
Similarly, Premier League clubs can announce pre-contract agreements with players from foreign clubs in January ahead of a summer move.
The opening of the January window also allows clubs to bring back or return loaned players if there is a suitable recall clause in their loan deal.
For example, Brighton & Hove Albion manager Fabian Hurzeler has not ruled out recalling Evan Ferguson from his loan at Italian club Roma, recently saying: "Definitely, he might be an option."
Once the transfer window closes on 2 February, Premier League clubs will then re-submit their updated squad lists.
Origin of transfers
Following the advent of professionalism in English football in the late 19th century, players began formally moving from one club to another.
However, the introduction of the controversial "retain-and-transfer" system in 1893 gave clubs significant power, allowing them to retain a player's registration – even after expiry of their contract – unless they deemed a compensatory fee to be sufficient.
The transfer-fee system became commonplace, with legal cases involving George Eastham (in 1963) and Jean-Marc Bosman (in 1995) helping to give players power to move from one club to another when their contracts expired.
The system of two transfer windows - summer and winter - was introduced for the 2002/03 season. Prior to that, the Premier League allowed players to move clubs at any time before or during a season until the end of March.
Where can I follow all the deals?
You can see EVERY in and out at all of the 20 Premier League clubs this January on our dedicated "Transfer Watch" page.
We tracked all of the summer 2025 transfers here.
Transfer limits
Every Premier League club are permitted to register a squad of up to 25 players. Each squad must contain no more than 17 players who do not fulfil the "Home Grown Player" criteria.
The remainder must be "Home Grown", although Under-21 players do not count towards the 25-player limit.
A "Home Grown Player" is one who, irrespective of nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to The Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons, or 36 months, before his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21).
In order to ensure that clubs operate within their financial means and avoid excessive losses, all clubs must also adhere to cost controls under the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules, which will change for next season.
Other types of transfer
While payment of a transfer fee from one club to another is the primary route of player movement, there remain alternative methods by which players can switch to new teams.
Thanks in no small part to the efforts of Eastham and Bosman, players become free agents at the expiration of their contract and are able to sign for a new club without payment of any fee. All Premier League contracts run until 30 June.
Players can also move from one club to another in loan deals, officially called "temporary transfers". On occasion, those deals will include an obligation for the club to buy the player at the conclusion of the loan period or if certain playing criteria are met.
The Premier League imposes various loan limits on clubs, including a limit of two registered loaned players from other English clubs at any one time. Loans from clubs in other countries do not count towards quotas.
How deals are done
At Premier League level, the vast majority of transfers involve negotiations between the buying and selling clubs, via player agents and other intermediaries.
Given their complex nature, transfers are often not concluded until late in the window.
Should they be required, deal sheets offer a two-hour grace period beyond the transfer window deadline for last-minute moves that have not been fully completed.
To register a player, clubs must submit all documentation to the Premier League, who will then determine whether that registration can be confirmed.
Buying and selling clubs can insist upon the fulfilment of various clauses for a transfer to take place, including how fees may be paid.