FA looks to use Brexit as opportunity for growth of home talent

The Football Association is hoping to use Brexit to push through plans to boost the chances of young English players at Premier League clubs.

A proposal was put to the clubs last week to limit the number of non-home-grown players in their 25-man first-team squads to 13 – down from the current maximum of 17. No agreement was reached, but Brexit will have a huge effect on how players are signed by clubs in future, because European players will no longer have free movement.

If the present system – with non-European Union players having to fulfil the Governing Body Endorsement (GBE) criteria to obtain a work permit – is retained then it would mean that, post-Brexit, 65 per cent of European players in the Premier League would not have made it through automatically. That would rule out 120 players from European countries.

It does not mean those players will have to leave post-Brexit, as they are already employed in the United Kingdom, but unless a new system is put in place it will make it much harder for clubs to sign European players in the future.

The FA is proposing a simplified system in return for a limit on recruitment of foreign players, and wants to implement this plan even if Brexit collapses. It is not looking to reduce the number of overseas players but to draw a line in the sand and stop that number – currently 262 – from rising.

As English football’s governing body the FA has been asked to come up with a plan by the Home Office and has suggested that a fully open market is created so that the Premier League can sign players from South America, Africa or Asia just as easily as it currently can from Europe. The clubs would simply have to offer a Premier League contract to the player rather than having to fulfil the GBE criteria – assessed on the number of international caps and where a nation sits in Fifa’s rankings. If rejected that can be appealed, based on a points system on transfer fee paid, wages and the status of the club.

But in return for a fully open market the clubs would have to agree a limit of 13 non-home-grown players. At present they are allowed 17. Although not all clubs have that number in their squad, 13 of the 20, including all the “Big Six”, have more than 12 overseas players this season.

Five clubs, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Brighton, Huddersfield and Watford, have the maximum number of 17 foreign players, while four more, Chelsea, Liverpool, Fulham and West Ham, have 16. Arsenal have 15, Manchester United and Newcastle have 14 and Leicester have 13. Bournemouth have the fewest, with five.

The FA believes its plan could increase the quality of foreign players coming into the Premier League but would, at the same time, improve the chances of English players being used. Clubs would effectively be forced to use them, although there is a danger of players being stockpiled. This may also require the loan system to be reviewed and the competitiveness of the Under-23 league re-examined.

The clubs dispute the theory that the quality of the Premier League would rise and are concerned that the FA’s plan would have a detrimental effect not just on its competitiveness against European rivals but, more significantly, on its ability to drive broadcast and commercial revenues.

Nevertheless there has been a steady decline in the number of English players starting Premier League matches, highlighted as a problem by a successive England managers, including Gareth Southgate. It has dropped below 30 per cent on occasions this season.

Premier League clubs appear to want all overseas players to be given work permits regardless of the GBE criteria, but the FA opposes this.

If there was no limit on foreign players coming in then it is calculated the number of non-home-grown players would inevitably rise and reach a capacity of 340 (ie 17 per club) by 2030.

Home-grown players include those from overseas who have spent three years in English or Welsh clubs’ academies between the ages of 16 and 21.

However Brexit will also have an effect on youth recruitment, with a Fifa rule preventing European players, except British and Irish, moving to English clubs if they are under 18.

As The Telegraph revealed on Monday this would also prevent young English players going abroad. Jadon Sancho, for example, would have been prevented from moving to Borussia Dortmund because he was 17 at the time.

There would be, as with all Brexit changes, a transition period until at least the end of 2020.