When Sunderland can sign players and Kristjaan Speakman's blueprint - summer transfer window explained

The summer transfer window opens this week, allowing clubs in England to buy and sell players once again. For Sunderland, this summer will be an important time for them to strengthen Tony Mowbray’s squad ahead of their return to the Championship

The Black Cats will enter the summer window in a good position and it is expected that they will be active in the market with both incomings and outgoings anticipated. Here, we take a look at everything supporters need to know about the upcoming transfer window:

When does the summer transfer window open?

The 2023 summer transfer window opens on Wednesday, June 14. Clubs in England will be able to sign domestic players from that date but will have to wait until the international window opens on Saturday, July 1 to sign players based abroad. 

When does the summer transfer window close?

The summer transfer window closes at 11pm on Friday September 1. That means clubs have 79 days in total to conclude their transfer dealings.

When does the January transfer window open?

The next chance clubs will have to strengthen their squad comes in January when the winter transfer window opens. That window will open on New Year’s Day and run until 11pm on February 1, 2024.

What has Kristjaan Speakman said about potential summer transfer plans?

Speaking in an interview that was aired a couple of weeks ago, Speakman said: “We’ll go into the transfer window as we always do, trying to evolve and improve the team.

“We feel that there’s areas that require strengthening – I think some of those are more obvious than others. But we’re only ever going to try to acquire the right players when we feel that they’re the right types of players, the right individuals who are going to come and contribute to the team, in the short and long term.

“I think, for us, maintaining the level of the quality that we’ve brought in is going to be the most difficult challenge because the team has evolved and the standard that is required is increasing.

“But myself and the recruitment staff are absolutely relishing that challenge, and the work is well under way on that. Hopefully, we can be quite early to the summer market, and that gives us the best opportunity of being well prepared for next season.

“We would always like to be as early as possible to recruiting players because we have pre-season for a reason and I think it gives us the most preparation time.

“It’s not always possible. You have to be able to find the right player at the right moment, and it has to fit for both themselves and us.

“I certainly think that by being really well organised and planned, as we have been, we could go into this window literally from the moment that the January window finished.

“Some of our scouting and recruitment work, some of the players we’re engaging with at the minute, has been going on for the last year.

“We certainly want to see some of that hard work come to the forefront, and hopefully see some more exciting players playing a brand of football at the Stadium of Light that I know from speaking to supporters in and around the city that they’re really pleased with.”