Top-flight clubs have already discussed plans to bring forward the August 31 deadline day to before the action gets under way.

If everyone agrees, there could be a change to the transfer regulations to prevent stand-offs that blighted the opening weekend of the campaign.

Nowhere was the situation more evident than at St Mary’s where Southampton did not play Virgil van Dijk, who has handed in a transfer request after an illegal approach from Liverpool, and Swansea omitted Gylfi Sigurdsson, who is set to move to Everton.

The futures of Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho and Everton’s Ross Barkley are also up in the air and action is now set to be taken to avoid a repeat.

Swans boss Paul Clement revealed: “At our managers’ meeting at the Premier League last week, we spoke about it.