A few weeks ago, the Football Association announced new proposals to change the rules governing home grown players in England.
In addition to stricter work permit rules, the changes include:
1) A player will have to have been registered with his club from the age of 15 – down from 18 – to qualify as ‘home-grown’. The minimum number of home-grown players in a club’s first-team squad of 25 will increase from eight to 12, phased over four years from 2016.
Chelsea should be fine in this regard. They currently have 16 non-home grown players (Cesc Fabregas registered when he was 16, so he will not be considered home grown under the new proposal). By 2020, the proposed limit is 13, so we will have until 2017 to shrink our number of non-home grown players. We’ve already been linked with Morgan Schneiderlin and Nathaniel Clyne, both of Southampton.
2)At least two home-grown players must also be ‘club-trained’ players – defined as any player, irrespective of nationality, that has been registered for three years at their club from the age of 15.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Dominic Solanke are expected to be a part of the squad by then, so this shouldn’t be a problem. Also, most of our U21 players are club-trained.
3) Only the best non-EU foreign players will be granted permission to play in England.
As one of the top clubs in England, this shouldn’t be a problem, as we will always go after top-tier talent to fill our non-home grown quota.
Overall, this proposal shouldn’t change much with how we do business, though I think it impacts lower-level Premier League clubs. We’ve relied on our academy to consistently produce talent, which is sometimes rolled over in to a sale to bring in a non-home grown talent.
At the end of the day, the FA will always lookout for what’s best for the Premier League and the England National Team. In 2014, 23 English players competed in the Champions League, compared to 78 Spanish players, 55 from Germany and 51 Brazilians.
In order to increase that number, the FA sees that now is the time for change, saying “As the body responsible for all of English football, it’s The FA’s duty to create as many opportunities as possible for young home grown talent to compete at the highest level.”
You can follow Kyle on Twitter at @KBJelly.
