Premier League "Home Grown" quota

[EskWeston 696]

England's Premier League clubs have agreed new rules on the number of "home-grown" players in their squads.Fromnext season, each club will, at the end of every transfer window, haveto name at least eight "home-grown" players in a squad of 25.

Toqualify as home grown, a player will have had to be registered for atleast three seasons at an English or Welsh club between the ages of 16and 21.

In addition, clubs have been warned to adhere to new financial rules.

Inagreeing to a quota on "home-grown" players from the beginning of the2010-11 season, Premier League clubs have been guided by Uefa'sinterest in the development of young players.

"It will encourage youth development and the promotion of youngplayers," said Premier League chief Richard Scudamore. "It's a rulewhich we think will give clubs an extra incentive to develop players,and to make a better return from their investment in youth.

"Make, rather than buy, is our intention."

Minister for Sport Gerry Sutcliffe welcomed the new rules.

"Thesemoves will encourage clubs to develop and bring through young talentand help ensure clubs are financially stable," he said.

"I ampleased the Premier League intend to impose tough sanctions on clubsthat take big financial risks that could threaten their future. Clubsmust be sustainable for the long-term health of the game in thiscountry."

According to a recent poll from the ProfessionalFootball Players' Observatory, English clubs employ the highestproportion of expatriate players, with 59.2% coming from abroad.

Liverpool have the highest percentage in Europe of expatriate players within their squad, measuring 90%.

Inaddition, Chelsea were recently found guilty by Fifa of inducing GaelKakuta to break his contract with Lens in 2007 when he was 16 which hasopened up the debate on the tapping up of young talent.

WhilstScudamore admits this ruling will not prevent clubs from recruitingyoung players from abroad, it will work towards reducing squad sizesand allow greater opportunities for young players to advance.

"Theclubs will always go abroad and look," he commented. "The importantthing is are they looked after and is it done properly and I don'tthink we will stop that happening any more or any less because of thisrule.

"I think it will reduce squad sizes, and stop the warehousing of players, if that is really what is going on."

Under the new measures, clubs will be able to boost their squads beyond the 25 limit but only by players under the age of 21.

ThePremier League's new financial rules - which were brought in on Monday- are similar to Uefa's current licensing guidelines, but differ inthat they are compulsory to clubs and punishment takes the form ofsanctions as opposed to outright exclusion from competition.

Eachclub will have to provide its annual accounts to the Premier League by1 March every year, and show that it does not have outstanding taxdebts, or debts to other clubs.

Clubs will also have to provethey can fulfil all fixtures and contractual obligations, and meet allpayments due during a season.

As well as denying clubs theright to acquire new players under a transfer ban, the Premier Leaguecan also prevent them improving contracts with current players.

"Itis absolutely essential that these clubs are run as viable, goingconcerns," added Scudamore. "We would far rather intervene than risk aclub going into administration.

"The whole purpose of this is to protect the viability and sustainability of the clubs."

Earlierthis month, Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie admitted that theclub almost went into administration, having lived "way outside itsmeans".

At the end of August, Sulaiman Al Fahim completed his takeover atFratton Park but prior to that Pompey were forced to rely on otherclubs, agents and the Inland Revenue agreeing to allow a delay onpayments owed to them to keep the club afloat.

But the newrules do stop short of Uefa president Michel Platini's "Financial FairPlay" proposals, which are due to be approved by Uefa's ExecutiveCommittee this week.

These seek to limit clubs to spend onlywhat they earn from football-related income such as ticket sales andtelevision deals and punishments could include the banning of clubsfrom European competition.

However, the new Premier League rules do not prevent clubs from amassing large amounts of debt, serviced by wealthy owners.

Lastyear, Football Association chairman Lord Triesman warned of thepotential danger posed by what he cited at the time to be over £3bnworth of debt owed by English clubs, a third of which was accounted forby Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United.

Chelseareported losses of £65.7m up to June last year, while Red Football,Manchester United's parent company which is owned by the Glazer family,recorded a £21m loss last year to increase their total debt to £575m.

Liverpool'sAmerican owners recently renegotiated the club's debt with the RoyalBank of Scotland, believed to be £290m, and have extended it foranother year.

But Scudamore defended the Premier League clubs' financial health.

"Contraryto what many people think, the clubs from a financial point of view arewell run," he said. "They all have qualified accountants running them.

"Theseclubs are extremely well regulated both in company law and certainlywhen you add our criteria and Uefa licensing on top.

Source: BBC

[EskWeston 696]

Whilst i think this is a good move, on the back on the potential transfer ban this could prove a problem. Also an interesting point to note is that whilst it says that we could boost our squad of 25 players with U21 players it doesn't say they have to be "homegrown"

1. Petr Cech

2. Hilario

3. Ross Turnbull (Homegrown)

4. Jose Bosingwa

5. Paulo Ferreira

6. Ashley Cole (Homegown)

7. Yuri Zhirkov

8. John Terry (Homegrown)

9. Ricardo Carvalho

10. Alex

11. Branislav Ivanovic

12. John Obi Mikel (Homegrown)

13. Michael Essien

14. Michael Ballack

15. Florent Malouda

16. Juliano Belletti

17. Nemaja Matic

18. Deco

19. Frank Lampard (Homegrown)

20. Joe Cole (Homegrown)

21. Didier Drogba

22. Nicolas Anelka

23. Soloman Kalou

24. Daniel Sturridge (Homegrown)

25. Sam Hutchinson (Homegrown)

As our squad stands it does not even impact it at all. Plus we can boost our squad strength with plenty of young players, as in this season we are using potentiall Bruma, Borini and Kakuta

[ZanSnake 1,211]

I predict some players will leave Chelsea at either January or Summer.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Whilst i think this is a good move, on the back on the potential transfer ban this could prove a problem. Also an interesting point to note is that whilst it says that we could boost our squad of 25 players with U21 players it doesn't say they have to be "homegrown"

1. Petr Cech

2. Hilario

3. Ross Turnbull (Homegrown)

4. Jose Bosingwa

5. Paulo Ferreira

6. Ashley Cole (Homegown)

7. Yuri Zhirkov

8. John Terry (Homegrown)

9. Ricardo Carvalho

10. Alex

11. Branislav Ivanovic

12. John Obi Mikel (Homegrown)

13. Michael Essien

14. Michael Ballack

15. Florent Malouda

16. Juliano Belletti

17. Nemaja Matic

18. Deco

19. Frank Lampard (Homegrown)

20. Joe Cole (Homegrown)

21. Didier Drogba

22. Nicolas Anelka

23. Soloman Kalou

24. Daniel Sturridge (Homegrown)

25. Sam Hutchinson (Homegrown)

As our squad stands it does not even impact it at all. Plus we can boost our squad strength with plenty of young players, as in this season we are using potentiall Bruma, Borini and Kakuta

Yup, theoretically, it won't affect us. Can't wait to see Arsenal's squad next year.

[EskWeston 696]

Yup, theoretically, it won't affect us. Can't wait to see Arsenal's squad next year.

Absolutely, i see Wenger is already moaning about it.

[Laylabelle 9,359]

Absolutely, i see Wenger is already moaning about it.

They go on about him having a young side blah blah..they kinda forgot about the nationality part

Rafa moaning as well

[Badboy 1,526]

Whilst i think this is a good move, on the back on the potential transfer ban this could prove a problem. Also an interesting point to note is that whilst it says that we could boost our squad of 25 players with U21 players it doesn't say they have to be "homegrown"

1. Petr Cech

2. Hilario

3. Ross Turnbull (Homegrown)

4. Jose Bosingwa

5. Paulo Ferreira

6. Ashley Cole (Homegown)

7. Yuri Zhirkov

8. John Terry (Homegrown)

9. Ricardo Carvalho

10. Alex

11. Branislav Ivanovic

12. John Obi Mikel (Homegrown)

13. Michael Essien

14. Michael Ballack

15. Florent Malouda

16. Juliano Belletti

17. Nemaja Matic

18. Deco

19. Frank Lampard (Homegrown)

20. Joe Cole (Homegrown)

21. Didier Drogba

22. Nicolas Anelka

23. Soloman Kalou

24. Daniel Sturridge (Homegrown)

25. Sam Hutchinson (Homegrown)

As our squad stands it does not even impact it at all. Plus we can boost our squad strength with plenty of young players, as in this season we are using potentiall Bruma, Borini and Kakuta

Salomon kalou home grown ?

[EskWeston 696]

Salomon kalou home grown ?

Nope, he was 20/21 when he joined us...