What Brexit could mean for the Albion
Brexit means Brexit. The United Kingdom is set to leave the European Union in March and four months before departure date, we now have some idea of what it will mean for football.
The Football Association is considering implementing a cap on the number of non-UK nationals that a Premier League squad can contain. This would mean that after Brexit, Brighton and Hove Albion could have a maximum of 12 foreign players in their 25-man squad with the remaining 13 having to be British nationals.
The current regulations state that a club must have at least eight “home grown” players. The qualification for being “home grown” isn’t based on nationality but on where a player completed his football education or came through an academy. Picking a famous example, Cesc Fabregas counts as home-grown as he is deemed a product of Arsenal.
Because of the EU’s freedom of movement rules, it is currently illegal for the FA to bar European nationals from seeking work in the UK which is why the home grown rule exists, rather than a flat-out cap on the number of non-UK players a squad can contain.
Once Britain is outside of the EU though those rules will no longer matter, meaning the FA can set limits. The talk is of no more than 12 non-UK players per squad in order to try and boost the amount of game time that young English players receive and in turn, improve the fortunes of the national team.
Chris Hughton currently has 17 non-UK nationals in his 25 man squad – Florin Andone, Leon Balogun, Yves Bissouma, Gaetan Bong, Bernardo, Pascal Gross, Jose Izquierdo, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Beram Kayal, Anthony Knockaert, Jurgen Locadia, Martin Montoya, Davy Propper, Mat Ryan, Bruno, Ezequiel Schelotto and Markus Suttner. All of those would be impacted by the change, while there is a grey area over Shane Duffy who although born in Northern Ireland, plays for the Republic and will presumably therefore have an Irish passport which would also make him non-UK.
For a club such as the Albion which does most of it’s scouting on the continent, preferring to bring in cheaper imports from Europe than pay the premium you associate with English players of a similar standard, this could have a real impact on our transfer policy. There’ll be no more Ryan, Gross or Izquierdo arriving for knockdown fees from the continent.
Since promotion to the Premier League, Hughton has signed only two British players and both of those are back-up goalkeepers – David Button from Fulham and Jason Steele from Sunderland. In his time at the club, 36 out of 44 new arrivals have been non-UK players. Hughton, we might have a problem.
With the majority of the club’s recruitment for the development squad also having taken place abroad, it could render the acquisitions of the likes of goalkeeper Hugo Keto, winger Soufyan Ahannach and forward Viktor Gyokeres completely pointless. Even Under 23 goal machine Aaron Connolly might have to be discarded for being Irish.
You’re probably thinking that the Premier League and the clubs surely won’t agree to this – especially the big boys who spend vast sums recruiting countless players from around the world. Imagine Pep Guardiola having to cull his talented squad in order to fit in 13 British players. “Sorry Sergio Aguero, you’re off as we’ve got to have a good English boy like Ashley Barnes in the squad”.
But the FA hold all the cards here. Should the clubs say no, then the FA have said that they will then consider implementing a full-on visa system for every non-UK player wanting to play in England. The stringent restrictions that have denied Percy Tau a work permit would apply to every single player coming into the country.
In that case, being able to include 12 relatively pain-free signings in a squad is much more preferable to ensuring every player you want to bring in has collected enough immigration points by playing in 30% of available minutes for a club in one of Europe’s top seven leagues, has a transfer fee in the top 80% of the previous season’s average or will be on wages in the top 80%.
Some would argue that the move is a positive if it gets the likes of Phil Foden and other members of England’s Under 17 World Cup winning side the chance to play first team football. But conversely, limiting the number of the world’s top players who can play in the Premier League could drive down the quality, devalue the product and take away from Foden the opportunity to train with and learn from the David Silvas and Kevin De Bruynes on a daily basis.
Nothing is set in stone yet, but it seems that Brexit is going to have a big impact on the Albion’s ability to improve their squad in the future and on the significant work already done below first team level. Nobody mentioned that on the side of a bloody bus.
