UK Edition
Exclusive: Brexit to send cost of English talent 'through the roof', warns Premier League academy chief
A leading Premier League academy director has warned Brexit could send the cost of the best English talent “through the roof” as clubs now accelerate plans for the expected end to the free movement of European players below the age of 18.
Some Premier League clubs have begun actively planning for that outcome by looking into buying smaller European clubs, setting up satellite academies in Europe or organising education programmes to develop young players until they could be legally transferred to the United Kingdom.
The strict footballing independence of Home Nations countries means there is even doubt over whether players below the age of 18 could be transferred between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Clubs in the European Economic Area can transfer players between the ages of 16 and 18 and this arrangement has allowed many high-profile players to join English clubs at a young age, including Cesc Fabregas, Paul Pogba, Hector Bellerin and Gylfi Sigurdsson.
Depending on the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, British clubs could fall out of that arrangement, either this March with a no-deal Brexit, or by January 2021 following a transition period. Rival European clubs would then have an additional two years to sign the same players. Young talent would also be prevented from leaving a British club before 18, putting an end to moves such as the one made by Jadon Sancho, who left Manchester City for Borussia Dortmund in 2017, aged 17.
Huw Jennings, academy director at Fulham and former academy director for both the Premier League and Southampton, says the numerous implications would represent the biggest upheaval since the introduction of the Elite Players’ Performance Plan eight years ago.
“I am concerned about the additional premium that would then be applied on British talent,” said Jennings. “There will be those clubs who argue there is not sufficient training compensation, and I understand that, but it’s more to do with the best talent being so widely sought after that the price gets driven through the roof. If you are not careful, what you are ending up with here is a transfer race.
“That is not healthy for young players. You start to have levels of training that are not commensurate with where the player currently sits and where the player might sit in the future.”
Despite the possibility of a no-deal Brexit, there has not yet been a noticeable push in the January transfer window for the best under-18 talent. For now, clubs are monitoring events in Westminster while making contingency plans.
“There are a couple of things clubs are looking at – one is certainly the acquisition of an additional club,” Jennings said. “Others will acquire junior clubs that may have a first team and play at a lower level. Some clubs are looking at setting up secondary academies in different countries.”
Fulham are not understood to be one of those, even if they have a “two-track approach” to Brexit and are formulating plans for new education options.
Many clubs already have close links abroad. Wolverhampton Wanderers announced a partnership last year with FC Jumilla, a small Spanish club who are Chinese-owned, and have nine players there on loan. The father of Watford owner Gino Pozzo is the owner of Udinese Calcio. Chelsea have been sending players on loan to Vitesse Arnhem for several years, while Manchester City, along with five other clubs around the world, are at least part-owned by the City Football Group.
The implications of Brexit for senior squads and player transfers could also be profound, with the Premier League having rejected the Football Association’s proposal for clubs to reduce their quota of non-home-grown players from 17 to 13.
According to several sources, Brexit is causing deep concern within the Premier League at a time when former chief executive Richard Scudamore has recently left and his proposed replacement, Susanna Dinnage, has decided she does not want the job. Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger last week questioned whether the Premier League would retain its dominant financial status after Brexit.
The Home Office had tasked the FA, along with the Premier League and Football League, to formulate a post-Brexit proposal and discussions are continuing. The Football Association wants to promote opportunity for home-grown players, while the Premier League can argue the current set-up, which has allowed a huge influx of talent from abroad, has delivered the world’s pre-eminent league and national teams who are enjoying increasing success.