English football eyes change to post-Brexit transfers – here’s what it means
For better or for worse remains to be seen, but Brexit’s impact on English football has changed the game for how teams now operate in the transfer market.
Clubs now face various legal hurdles and visa requirements to get international talent in their colours, with immigration rules allowing teams to sponsor an elite player who meets various assessment criteria via a points system.
Unearthing the next superstar from abroad has been made more complicated because sides are not only restricted by government and sporting law but also facing increased competition from teams across the globe who can freely sign their transfer targets.
The flipside of this argument is that clubs are now forced to look closer to home and give homegrown players a chance, making the market for the best talent throughout the UK wider than ever before.
The Football Association is said to be consulting teams over new regulations which would offer the best of both worlds: promoting homegrown talent but while also capturing exciting overseas academy players.
According to reports, the FA’s proposed system would allow clubs to sign whoever they wanted from abroad as long as they also offered more first-team opportunities to English players.
So how would this work?
If genuine chances are provided to homegrown players then this could be a win-win situation for clubs and the FA, but the governing body would need to change its rules and, perhaps most pertinently, provide a clear outline to what “first-team opportunities” really means and how it is measured.
So far it has been suggested that teams could sign as many as four overseas players, regardless of how many international caps they have or points they would score under the current eligibility system, thanks to a new “significant contribution” framework.
The proposals would allow English clubs to compete with those abroad for talent and ensure the nation’s professional leagues do not lose their shine as the most lucrative and desired destination for the game’s biggest stars.
Should the FA get its way, there is an argument that rules should be relaxed for other sports. Going even further than that, what would this mean for sectors throughout society which have a shortage of labour?
There is already criticism from other sectors that rules and laws have been relaxed enough for sports because of the money and public interest involved.
Sport is a microcosm of society, and if the FA is looking to ensure it can still attract the best foreign talent while promoting the foremost at home, it may reflect the state of current visa regulations and immigration law.
Whatever the outcome, how the world of football operates in a post-Brexit era is still taking shape.
Ikram Malik is a corporate immigration partner at JMW Solicitors.