EastStandBlue
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When Richard Scudamore announced the new home-grown quota system that will come into place for the start of the 2010/11 campaign, you could almost hear the penny drop in boardrooms across the country.
From August 2010, a Premier League club will have it's squad capped at 25 players, containing a minimum of eight home-grown players. According to the Premier League, a home-grown player is someone who, regardless of their nationality, has been registered with an English league club for a period of three entire seasons prior to his 21st birthday.
All seems above the board? Well, not exactly. Coupled with the potential UEFA ruling forbidding player movement before the age of 18, and you have a recipe for disaster for the Premier League clubs. Clubs will be able to field an unlimited amount of additional players that are under the age of 21, but in a League as fierce and frenetic as the Premier League, throwing a youngster in the deep end could be catastrophic.
So, taking into account these new regulations, just who will feel the full brunt and have to undergo a major overhaul of their squad?
Working from the top down, half of the big four, in theory, are fine. Manchester United have a solid base of players that have spent their entire careers in England, such as Ferdinand, Carrick, Rooney, Scholes, Giggs and the like, and foreign players only supplement this foundation.
It's almost as if Arsene Wenger saw this coming. Whether he's been associating with Derren Brown or he heard it in this magical pub he talks about is unclear, but his squad will fall almost immaculately in the category of "good to go". Wenger's been accumulating a squad of great potential for years now, so much so that the young players he has, although they're all French, are Home Grown by Scudamore's understanding. Even the club's established stars, such as Fabregas, Clichy and Diaby, all spent their adolescence in Arsene's Academy.
This particular axe has been saved for United and Arsenal's great rivals. Under Benitez, Liverpool's squad has inflated beyond proportion. There are a monstrous number of 35 players registered this season, with only a handful meeting these new regulations. Of Liverpool's considered starting eleven, only Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard and Glen Johnson fit the necessary bill. Chelsea, like Liverpool, see themselves with an inflated number of foreign players in their ranks. Aside from the typical contingent of the Cole's, Terry and Lampard, the remaining players are an eclectic bunch of Africans, Frenchman and John Obi Mikel... Whose nationality is stil under inquiry after a contract row between several countries. If UEFA uphold their transfer ban on the London club, there's a distinct possibility that George Clooney will turn up with some bespectacled scientists babbling about a "Perfect Storm".
Outside of the top four, things are looking a bit clearer. Martin O'Neill, when he's not chucking Nigel Reo-Coker around Midland fields, has been singing a vast collection of Englishman and complimenting them with the odd European so Aston Villa should feel no wrath of legislation. Likewise at Tottenham, especially after Harry Redknapp concluded the Great Spurs BuyBack with Peter Crouch returning to his boyhood club. Mark Hughes will have to pay close attention to the way in which he shapes and moulds his Saudi-funded squad. Whilst his current team should, in theory, feel no implications, he won't be able splash around the pool of talent purchasing all he wants any more. He might have pulled the wool over some people's eyes in convincing them Craig Bellamy is a stand-up character and a jolly good chap, but there's no way in the world he'll convince people that Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, Kaka to you and me, is Moss Side born and bred.
Whilst the impact on current squads will be strong, it's nothing compared to the impact it'll have on player value as many managers have been quick to point out. English players are already vastly overvalued, but players that fit the all important home-grown criteria will become all the more valuable. In a similar method of thought, players the find themselves outside of the 25 man squad will become almost worthless. Useless on the sidelines at their current team, they'll have to move to find regular football, a move which will be at a fraction of their realistic value.
The benefits are their for all to see. A rise in the number of "English" talent will greatly reward the national team and it does, kind of, maybe, a little bit if you squint your eyes and tilt your head, level the playing field slightly. One things for sure, there are certainly clubs dreading these measures more than others.
From August 2010, a Premier League club will have it's squad capped at 25 players, containing a minimum of eight home-grown players. According to the Premier League, a home-grown player is someone who, regardless of their nationality, has been registered with an English league club for a period of three entire seasons prior to his 21st birthday.
All seems above the board? Well, not exactly. Coupled with the potential UEFA ruling forbidding player movement before the age of 18, and you have a recipe for disaster for the Premier League clubs. Clubs will be able to field an unlimited amount of additional players that are under the age of 21, but in a League as fierce and frenetic as the Premier League, throwing a youngster in the deep end could be catastrophic.
So, taking into account these new regulations, just who will feel the full brunt and have to undergo a major overhaul of their squad?
Working from the top down, half of the big four, in theory, are fine. Manchester United have a solid base of players that have spent their entire careers in England, such as Ferdinand, Carrick, Rooney, Scholes, Giggs and the like, and foreign players only supplement this foundation.
It's almost as if Arsene Wenger saw this coming. Whether he's been associating with Derren Brown or he heard it in this magical pub he talks about is unclear, but his squad will fall almost immaculately in the category of "good to go". Wenger's been accumulating a squad of great potential for years now, so much so that the young players he has, although they're all French, are Home Grown by Scudamore's understanding. Even the club's established stars, such as Fabregas, Clichy and Diaby, all spent their adolescence in Arsene's Academy.
This particular axe has been saved for United and Arsenal's great rivals. Under Benitez, Liverpool's squad has inflated beyond proportion. There are a monstrous number of 35 players registered this season, with only a handful meeting these new regulations. Of Liverpool's considered starting eleven, only Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard and Glen Johnson fit the necessary bill. Chelsea, like Liverpool, see themselves with an inflated number of foreign players in their ranks. Aside from the typical contingent of the Cole's, Terry and Lampard, the remaining players are an eclectic bunch of Africans, Frenchman and John Obi Mikel... Whose nationality is stil under inquiry after a contract row between several countries. If UEFA uphold their transfer ban on the London club, there's a distinct possibility that George Clooney will turn up with some bespectacled scientists babbling about a "Perfect Storm".
Outside of the top four, things are looking a bit clearer. Martin O'Neill, when he's not chucking Nigel Reo-Coker around Midland fields, has been singing a vast collection of Englishman and complimenting them with the odd European so Aston Villa should feel no wrath of legislation. Likewise at Tottenham, especially after Harry Redknapp concluded the Great Spurs BuyBack with Peter Crouch returning to his boyhood club. Mark Hughes will have to pay close attention to the way in which he shapes and moulds his Saudi-funded squad. Whilst his current team should, in theory, feel no implications, he won't be able splash around the pool of talent purchasing all he wants any more. He might have pulled the wool over some people's eyes in convincing them Craig Bellamy is a stand-up character and a jolly good chap, but there's no way in the world he'll convince people that Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, Kaka to you and me, is Moss Side born and bred.
Whilst the impact on current squads will be strong, it's nothing compared to the impact it'll have on player value as many managers have been quick to point out. English players are already vastly overvalued, but players that fit the all important home-grown criteria will become all the more valuable. In a similar method of thought, players the find themselves outside of the 25 man squad will become almost worthless. Useless on the sidelines at their current team, they'll have to move to find regular football, a move which will be at a fraction of their realistic value.
The benefits are their for all to see. A rise in the number of "English" talent will greatly reward the national team and it does, kind of, maybe, a little bit if you squint your eyes and tilt your head, level the playing field slightly. One things for sure, there are certainly clubs dreading these measures more than others.
