EPL: The Implications of Having Seven Substitutes

In February this year, it was announced that the teams involved from this season's edition of the English Premier League can have upto seven substitutes, two more than the number previously allowed.

Until last season, a squad for every game consisted of 16 players. Increasing this number by two could have an interesting impact on not just the Premier League, but also the Championship.

Looking at this ruling from a "big club's" perspective, it sounds like a good proposition. Most of the other leagues in the World seem to have seven substitutes in each game. So, the English Premier League following suite is almost natural. The managers have two more options on the bench, which will naturally help them when their team is not playing up to scratch.

The interesting thing, though, is that the number of Premier League players being loaned out to other divisions may be significantly reduced. Two more players to bench per game for most clubs, would be a big change. They might need their "fringe players" or the ones who they feel can make it in the highest level on the bench.

In fact, to my knowledge, there haven't been too many loan deals between Premier League clubs and Championship clubs this summer.

So, the days where players like Nicklas Bendtner, Seb Larsson and Fabrice Muamba were all loaned out in the same season to the same Championship club might be well and truly gone.

Another interesting implication is how the promoted clubs and the "smaller clubs" in the league will deal with this rule. Clubs with a shoestring budget, and even the ones which have been in the Premier League for a while could find this rule a difficulty to use to the maximum potential.

Funnily enough, this rule could actually improve England's National team in the long run. Two more substitutes means that clubs like Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea may well add their English talent to the bench and use them if necessary. The mid-table clubs will invariably use two more English players and this will definitely increase the potential talent pool for the English National team in the long run.

In what has been a rather interesting summer in terms of transfer news, this particular change in the Premier League next year has not been debated too much. While the Premier League won't change too much with this ruling, we might get to see some very interesting matches with managers having two extra options to put out, just in case things don't go according to plan.