FA plans to use Brexit as chance to nurture home-grown 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 noneuropean Union players having to fulfil the Governing Body Endorsement criteria to obtain a work permit – is retained then it would mean that, post-brexit, 65 per cent of European players in the Premier

The proposal is to limit non homegrown players to 13 per squad

League would not have made it through automatically. That would rule out 120 players from European countries. The FA is proposing a simplified system in return for a limit on recruitment of foreign players and 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. In return for an open market the clubs would have to agree a limit of 13 non home-grown players, something the FA is keen on whether Brexit happens or not.

Although not all clubs have that number, 13 of the 20, including all the “Big Six”, have more than 12 overseas players this season.