The Premier League's decision to amend rule E26 means that top-flight clubs can now name seven substitutes instead of five but, as football rules stipulate, they can only make three substitutions during a game.

This change increases the options for Premier League managers, allowing for more flexibility in their tactical decision-making. Seven substitutes per team is already normal practice in top European leagues as well as the Champions League, UEFA Cup and international matches.

Young players should also benefit from this move as they are stand to gain experience on match days. In Scotland, clubs are obliged to have three Under-21 players among the seven substitutes.

The one-substitution-per-team was first introduced in 1965 but three seasons had to pass for managers to receive permission to use the '12th man' for tactical reasons.

In the first three years, changes were restricted to injured players only. The first man to enter the field of play during a match from the bench was Charlton Athletic midfielder Keith Peacock, who took over from the injured goalkeeper Mike Rose 11 minutes into the Valiants' first fixture of the season against Bolton.

Last season, the most substituted player in the Premier League was Manchester City's Elano, who was taken off 23 times. He was followed by Birmingham's Mikael Forsell on 19 and Blackburn's David Dunn, 18.

The latest Deloitte annual review (issued in May) of football finance shows that Premier League clubs' revenues have increased substantially in all areas of their business.

For 2007-08, it is estimated that the 20 clubs' will report an income of over £1.9m compared to £1.5m in the previous season.

The report, now in its 17th year, confirmed that the Premier League clubs remain by far the biggest earners in world football. The English professional football's annual tax contribution to government exceeds £700m.

Club call

Arsenal
Manager: Arsene Wenger.
Ins: Aaron Ramsey, mf from Cardiff − £5m; Samir Nasri, mf from Marseille − £13m; Amaury Bischoff (Portugal), mf from Werder Bremen − £2.5m.

Aston Villa
Manager: Martin O'Neill.
Ins: Curtis Davies, def from West Brom (after loan) - £3.5m; Steve Sidwell, mf from Chelsea − £5m; Brad Guzan (US), gk from Chivas US − £2m; Brad Friedel, gk from Blackburn − £2.5m; Nicky Shorey, def from Reading − £3.5m; Luke Young, def from Middlesbrough − £6m.

Blackburn Rovers
Manager: Paul Ince.
Ins: Robbie Fowler, fwd from Cardiff − free; Paul Robinson, gk from Tottenham − £3.5m; Carlos Villanueva (Chile), mf from Auxas Italiano − loan; Danny Simpson, def from Manchester United − loan; Julio Santa Cruz (Paraguay), fwd from Cerro Porteno − £750,000.

Bolton Wanderers
Manager: Gary Megson.
Ins: Johan Elmander (Sweden), fwd from Toulouse − £9m; Fabrice Muamba, mf from Birmingham − £5m; Mustapha Riga (Netherlands), fwd from Levante − £500,000; Danny Shittu, def from Watford − £2m.

Chelsea
Manager: Luiz Felipe Scolari.
Ins: Jose Bosingwa (Portugal), def from Porto − £16.2m; Deco, mf (Portugal) from Barcelona − £8m.

Everton
Manager: David Moyes.
Ins: Steven Pienaar, mf from Borussia Dortmund − £2m (after loan).

Fulham
Manager: Roy Hodgson.
Ins: Mark Schwarzer, gk from Middlesbrough − free; Zoltan Gera, mf from West Brom − free; David Stockdale, gk from Darlington − £650,000; Andranik Teymourian, mf from Bolton − free; Toni Kallio, def from Young Boys (after loan) − £850,000; Bobby Zamora, fwd from West Ham − £4m; John Pantsil, def from West Ham − £2.3m; Fredrik Stoor (Sweden), def from Rosenborg − £3m; Pascal Zuberbuhler (Switzerland), gk from Neuchatel Xamax − £125,000; Andy Johnson, fwd from Everton − £10.5m.

Hull City
Manager: Phil Brown.
Ins: Geovanni, mf from Manchester City − free; Bernard Mendy, def from Paris SG − free; Peter Halmosi, fwd from Plymouth − £2m; George Boateng, mf from Middlesbrough − £1m; Tony Warner, gk from Fulham − free; Chris Fagan, fwd from Derby − £750,000; Anthony Gardner, def from Tottenham − loan; Mark Oxley, gk from Rotherham − £150,000.

Liverpool
Manager: Rafael Benitez.
Ins: Philipp Degen (Switzerland), def from Borussia Dortmund − free; Nikola Saric (Denmark), fwd from Herforlge − £900,000; Zsolt Poloskei (Hungary), mf from MTK Hungaria − loan; Andrea Dossena (Italy), def from Udinese − £7m; Diego Cavalieri (Brazil), gk from Atletico Mineiro − £3m; Vincent Lucas Veijl (Netherlands), 17 from AZ Alkmaar − £300,000; Emmanuel Mendy (Spain), def from Murcia Deportivo − free; David Ngog (France), fwd from Paris SG − £1.5m; Robbie Keane, fwd from Tottenham − £20.3m.

Manchester City
Manager: Mark Hughes.
Ins: Jo (Brazil), fwd from CSKA Moscow − £18m; Tal Ben Haim, def from Chelsea − £5m.

Manchester United
Manager: Sir Alex Ferguson.
Ins: Davide Petrucci (Italy), fwd from Roma − £200,000; Carlos Tevez, fwd from MSI − £32m (after loan).

Middlesbrough
Manager: Gareth Southgate.
Ins: Marvin Emnes (Netherlands), fwd from Sparta Rotterdam − £3.2m; Didier Digard (France), mf from PSG − £4m.

Newcastle United
Manager: Kevin Keegan.
Ins: Jonas Gutierrez (Argentina), fwd from Real Mallorca − £10m; Danny Guthrie, mf from Liverpool − £2.5m; Ole Soderberg (Sweden), gk from BK Haken − £200,000; Fabio Zamblera (Italy), fwd from Atalanta − £250,000; Wesley Ngo Baheng (France), fwd from Le Havre − £300,000; Ben Tozer, def from Swindon − £400,000; Tamas Kadar (Hungary), def from Zalaegerszegi − £900,000; Sebastien Bassong (France), def from FC Metz − £1.4m.

Portsmouth
Manager: Harry Redknapp.
Ins: Glen Little, mf from Reading − free; Ben Sahar, fwd from Chelsea − loan; Peter Crouch, fwd from Liverpool − £11m; Omar Koroma (Gambia), fwd from Banjul Hawks − £400,000; Younes Kaboul, def from Tottenham − £6m.

Stoke City
Manager: Tony Pulis.
Ins: Rudolph Austin (Jamaica), mf from Portmore United − £1.2m; Dave Kitson, fwd from Reading − £5.5m; Seyi Olofinjana, mf from Wolves − £3m; Tomas Sorensen, gk from Aston Villa − free.

Sunderland
Manager: Roy Keane.
Ins: Teemu Tainio, mf from Tottenham − £3.5m; Nick Colgan, gk from Ipswich − free; David Meyler, mf from Cork − £340,000; El-Hadji Diouf, fwd from Bolton − £2.5m; Pascal Chimbonda, def from Tottenham − £4m; Steed Malbranque, mf from Tottenham − £3.5m.

Tottenham Hotspur
Manager: Juande Ramos.
Ins: Luka Modric (Croatia), mf from Dinamo Zagreb − £16.5m; Giovani Dos Santos (Mexico), fwd from Barcelona − £4.7m; Paul-Jose Mpoku (Belgium), fwd from Standard Liege − £200,000; John Bostock, mf from Crystal Palace − £700,000; David Bentley, mf from Blackburn − £15m; Heurelho Gomes (Brazil), gk from PSV Eindhoven − £7.5m.

West Bromwich Albion
Manager: Tony Mowbray.
Ins: Roman Bednar, fwd from Hearts − £2.5m (after loan); Do-heon Kim, mf from Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma − £550,000 (after loan); Luke Moore, fwd from Aston Villa − £3m; Gianni Zuiverloon (Netherlands), def from Heerenveen − £3.2m; Graham Dorrans, mf from Livingston − £100,000; Marek Cech (Slovakia), def from Porto − £1.4m; Scott Carson, gk from Liverpool − £4m; Madjid Bougherra, def from Charlton − £2m; Abdoulage Meite, def from Bolton − £2m.

West Ham United
Manager: Alan Curbishley.
Ins: Holmar Orn Eyjolfsson (Iceland), def from HK Kopavogur − free; Valon Behrami (Switzerland), mf from Lazio − £5m; Jan Lastuvka (Czech Rep), gk from Shakhtar Donetsk − loan.

Wigan Athletic
Manager: Steve Bruce.
Ins: Daniel de Ridder, fwd from Birmingham − free; Olivier Kapo, mf from Birmingham − £2.5m; Amr Zaki (Egypt), fwd from El Zamalek − loan; Lee Cattermole, mf from Middlesbrough − £3.5m.

Note: Only loans for a period of a whole season or six months (due to transfer window opening) are included.

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