Why Leicester’s miracle may never be repeated

Concerns grow that EU withdrawal will curb clubs’ access to talent, writes Tim Wigmore

N’Golo Kante burst through midfield. He slipped a ball through to Riyad Mahrez, who pirouetted through Manchester City’s defence and curled the ball into the corner. Incongruously, impossibly, Leicester City were 2-0 up at the Etihad Stadium and en route to the Premier League title.

This moment would never have been possible had European players been subject to the same work-permit criteria as noneuropean players. Neither Kante nor Mahrez – a French citizen, although he plays for Algeria – would have been able to sign for Leicester. Nor would Robert Huth, who headed in Leicester’s two other goals that day at the Etihad. Shorn of these three totems, Leicester’s 5,000-1 title miracle of 2016 might never have happened.

This is the Premier League’s great concern: that Brexit will limit the talent clubs can access, and so make the league of lower quality, more predictable and less interesting to a global audience.

Six months before the UK leaves the European Union, the Premier League is still unaware of how it will be affected.

Clubs are currently free to sign any players from countries in the European Economic Area. But strict rules govern the players they are able to sign from outside the EEA. Essentially, they must appear regularly for a country in the top 60 of the world rankings, or command a transfer fee or wages exceeding the median paid by Premier League clubs the previous year, to suggest they are an exceptional talent.

The Premier League fears these rules could now be extended to all European players, decimating

clubs’ ability to recruit from the continent. The Home Office’s statement that they will ensure that the new immigration system “welcomes the brightest and best who want to work hard and contribute” will scarcely assuage these concerns.

Many of the leading Premier League players in recent years would not have qualified as the “brightest and best” when they signed. As well as Kante and Mahrez – two of the past three PFA players of the year – the list also includes Marcos Alonso, Abdoulaye Doucoure, Pascal Gross, and Mikel Arteta, who would all have been prevented from signing had they been treated as noneuropean players.

The Premier League fears clubs would be prevented using their scouting networks to identify players of huge potential. Clubs would then face paying a premium for players because they would only be able to sign them later, when they are better-known.

Theoretically, clubs could even be forced into paying more for a player in order to lift a potential signing above the level they would need to be granted a work permit on the points-based system currently used for non-eea players.

A particular worry is that clubs outside the big six – who are much more likely to sign players who do not otherwise meet the workpermit criteria – will suffer the most, so the Premier League’s competitive balance would suffer, entrenching the elite. In general, the poorer a Premier League club are, the more likely their European signings would not meet the work-permit requirements.

It already appears certain, unless the UK stays in the EEA, Premier League clubs will be barred from signing European players aged 16 or 17. Fifa bans all overseas transfers involving under-18s, but makes an exception for movement within the EEA – something Arsenal used to sign Cesc Fabregas and Hector Bellerin, and Manchester City used to recruit the Dutch striker Jayden Braaf on his 16th birthday this summer.

The Premier League now frets that its clubs could face a double disadvantage. It is already harder for non-eea players to be granted work permits to play in the UK than in many other countries. The Premier League fears it will become harder to sign European talent, too.

These concerns inform the Premier League’s audacious attempts to abolish all work-permit

European signings for poorer clubs are less likely to meet the work-permit requirements

criteria for overseas players – not just in Europe, but anywhere in the world.

In discussions with the Government, the Premier League is arguing that, as all clubs are mandated to select eight homegrown players in their 25-man squads, they should be free to sign any foreign players they deem good enough to fill the 17 overseas berths.

The Premier League’s hope is that, while teams will lose the ability to sign the best European talent aged 16 and 17, they could be compensated by being empowered to sign the best young players in the world from the age of 18.

While the uncertainty continues, the coming years promise to bring a scramble to sign players. The UK’S transition period with the EU is planned to end in December 2020 – after then, clubs will no longer be able to sign 16 or 17-year-olds from Europe and, depending on new work-permit rules for footballers, perhaps a large number of other European players. All players who move before will be able to continue playing in the UK afterwards.

The Premier League is one of the UK’S most successful exports, televised in 189 of the 193 countries in the United Nations. Such huge global popularity will not be easily eroded. But the Premier League believes its ascent has been underpinned by its array of international talent – and so while Brexit threatens this, so it risks undermining the league’s appeal.