The Football Association has floated an innovative plan that would allow Premier League and lower-league clubs to sign more overseas players in exchange for providing greater time on the pitch for English talent.
Since Brexit, all signings from abroad are subject to the FA’s Governing Body Endorsement (GBE), which means players get a visa only if they have played at the highest level or are expected to make a significant contribution to the game.
Under the FA’s proposals Premier League and Championship clubs would be able to sign four overseas players without a GBE, as long as the club gave 35% of total playing minutes to English players the previous season. Depending on the percentage of minutes played by English talent the number of signings would drop to three (30-35%), two (25-30%) or one (20-25%).
The same rules would apply to the Championship, while clubs in Leagues One and Two could bring in a maximum of two players under the proposed new rules, which would have to be approved by the home office.
An FA spokesperson said: “We’ve worked hard to find a solution to this issue which helps the clubs and also supports young English talent. We are now in a consultation with the clubs on a new model which would give clubs access to a broader range of talent in limited quantities and would also support opportunities for English talent.”
Paul Barber, Brighton and Hove Albion’s chief executive, said Premier League clubs were at a “big disadvantage” under the current rules compared with their European rivals.
“There is an inherent conflict that exists between the FA as the GBE provider which wants to protect the interests of the national team and what us as a Premier League club would ideally want, which is the easiest access to talent around the world,” he said.
“We are not convinced that having wider access to talent is to the detriment of the national team. But we also recognise that we have a responsibility to bring through young English players and the amount of money we spend on our academies shows that we have no sign of letting up on that.”
He added: “We feel we are putting ourselves at the moment at a disadvantage – a big disadvantage in some cases – with some of our rivals in Europe and they are able to access talent at a far lower level, develop it and sell it on to us at far higher prices.
“Our argument is we would much rather have access to that talent at the lower prices and we could then spend the money that we save to invest further in English football and the development of our academies.”
