We all knew it would happen and it appears as of next season it will!

The Premier League have introduced a home-grown player rule which will come into effect from next season, alongside a limit on squad sizes.

From the 2010/11 campaign, the 20 Premier League clubs have voted to introduce measures which will see all teams required to have eight home-grown players out of a squad of 25.

Chief executive Richard Scudamore confirmed the changes, with clubs only able to make alterations to their squads during the two transfer windows.

“As of next season clubs will be required to have a squad named of up to 25 players, of which no more than 17 can be over the age of 21 and not home grown,” Scudamore said.

“The definition of home grown is trained for three years under the age of 21 by somebody in the English and Welsh professional system.

“Clubs will have to declare their 25 at the end of August when the window shuts and then again at the end of January.”

Players who are aged under 21 are eligible over and above the limit of 25 players per squad.

Scudamore does not believe the move will encourage clubs to hoard young foreign players and claims the England team will ultimately reap the reward.

“It’s not in the club’s interests to stockpile players. It will make buying home-grown talent more attractive,” he said.

“We’re not going down the route of a nationality test but what this will mean is that you just can’t buy a team from abroad.

“We think it will give clubs an extra incentive to invest in youth. We think that one of the benefits will be that it will help the England team.”

All 20 Premier League members also agreed to adhere to a set of financial reporting rules designed to protect the viability and sustainability of the clubs. (Sky Sports)

So a few obvious questions come to mind. Firstly how does this squad of 25 thing work? Clearly most clubs have squads far in excess of this number, hell they get to name 28 for the Champions League, so what if a team has a squad of 40? Do they then just have to have eight homegrown players within the entire amount? I mean, have I got this wrong, are they also setting a maximum squad limit as well?

I think the idea of a Homegrown Quota is a good one but lets hope that teams don’t try to fiddle the issue or attempt to cheat the system.

What do you all think, is this a good thing or not?


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