| Home-grown quota not a problem | |
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Premier League clubs will next season need to name at least eight young home-grown players in a squad of 25. With top flight English clubs employing the highest proportion of expatriates in Europe (59.2%) it is no surprise that the new regulations are causing some headaches. Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez, who manages a squad that is 90% foreign, has led the criticism, suggesting the proposals will reduce quality and threaten the status of the Premier League as the best league in the world. Arsène Wenger is another long-standing opponent of such quota systems and the big clubs, so reliant on foreign talent, are expected to struggle to fulfil the criteria. In truth they should not be too worried.
Whilst Benitez and Wenger are right in saying that squads might be weakened in the short-term – no club has eight English or Welsh players under the age of 21 who are all of first team standard – the major teams still have enough quality. Clubs can have a primary squad of 17 players with no restrictions on age or nationality, which should be plenty to see them through a Premier League season. The 25-man squad can grow if more local under-21s are included. More emphasis will need to be put on youth development and it is hard to see how the national team will not benefit. This is not the clubs' primary concern, but the improvement of home-grown talent is in their interests, especially since Chelsea had their fingers burned by poaching young foreign players.
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