Brexit forcing Reds to think about future
WILLY Kambwala, Alvaro Fernandez, Marc Jurado, Alejandro Garnacho, Isak Hansen-Aaroen and Radek Vitek. They were the six foreign youth players recruited by United in the summer from clubs ranging from Sochaux in France, Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona and Norwegian side Tromso.
It does not take a genius to work out why the Reds were so prolific in this area in the window - because they won’t be able to do it again.
New rules on the transfer of overseas players are soon coming into place, in line with the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.
In 2019 Hannibal Mejbri and Dillon Hoogewerf were brought in as teenagers from Monaco and Ajax respectively. This is something habitually done by the Premier League’s bighitters, who will all be forced into a rethink from now on.
One of the major changes coming in prevents clubs from signing overseas players under the age of 18 from the first day of January 2021 onwards. No ifs, no buts.
And clubs will also be restricted to three overseas signings under the age of 21 in the January transfer window, and only six per season.
Any foreign signings that are made (even those older than 21) will have to pass a threshold, on a point-based system decided by a Governing Body Endorsement (GBE) panel.
The bottom line is that no more EU freedom of movement makes the task to recruit youngsters from European clubs more difficult. For example, United would never have been able to have signed Paul Pogba from Le Havre as a 16-year-old if the new rules had existed in 2009.
United have already pre-arranged the transfer for Atalanta 18-year-old Amad Diallo to go through in January, but even moves like that will become more difficult and complex after Brexit.
Every transfer for an overseas player will go through the GBE criteria: to be assessed on international appearances, the stature of the selling club and the number of competitive minutes played.
It ought not to impact the big, shiny first-team signings. The summer moves for Donny van de Beek, Edinson Cavani and Alex Telles would have all been passed without a hitch. But United will have to change their policy when it comes to bringing in young talent.
Bosses insist it should mean more opportunities for homegrown youngsters, who can then learn from the best foreign stars after they turn 18. And it’s a sound argument, a more level playing field - though that’s not much comfort for United.
So the Reds will be assessing the strength of their recent academy additions and feeling mightily glad they acted so decisively in that particular summer market.
The club were rightly crucified for their inability to land long-term target Jadon Sancho in the summer. But you cannot fault their long-term planning when it has come to academy additions.
They struck while the iron was hot, though now is the time for a rethink.