Here's what the "big four" starting eleven might look like if Sepp Blatter's "six plus five" proposal were to go through.
Bolded players are English or domestic players.
Arsenal
Theo Walcott Emmanuel Adebayor (England) (Togo)
Alianksandr Hleb Cesc Fabregas Henri Lansbury James Dunne
(Belarus) (Spain) (England) (England)
Justin Hoyte Gavin Hoyte William Gallas Kerrea Gilbert
(England) (England) (France) (England)
Almunia
(Spain)
9 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Andrew McNair about 1 year ago
Almunia will qualify soon lol!!!!
Darren Fletcher is just unlucky! Can't even get a game being British!!
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Matt S about 1 year ago
I heard some talk a while ago about these “domestic” players being not just those who are English (or born in whatever country the league is in) but also those players who have come through the academy at that particular club. I am sure I read something about players like Fabregas counting as a “domestic” player under rules such as these due to the fact that he has come through the Arsenal academy since age 16.
Does anyone know if this idea is still the case/under consideration?
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Andrew McNair about 1 year ago
I don't know Matt but I still think domestic should mean England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland etc.
As for Fabregas who long was he in Barcelona's youth system? He was in the first team nearly as soon as he reached Arsenal so was therefore more like a normal foreign signing or what do you think?
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Matt S about 1 year ago
Fabregas joined Arsenal in 2003 when he was 16 so he’d done most of his apprenticeship at Barca I guess so he’d have to count as a foreigner player for sure. I am sure I read something about this though and this would be harder and harder to regulate with the clubs such as Arsenal and Liverpool in particular poaching foreign talent younger and younger. For example, if they are taking on players from abroad at the age of 13 or 14 then in 5 years time they would be able to take on British nationality, so in theory by the time they were breaking into the team at 18/19 then they could technically be “British/English”. How this would work with dual-nationality I do not know.
It would be even trickier to implent a rule like this in the Premiership than in Serie A/La Liga due to the fact that we are technically Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I remember with the old three-foreigner rule in the Champions League circa 1994 when Man United had to choose their three “foreigners” between Cantona, Schmeichel but also Giggs, Hughes, Irwin, etc which always seemed a bit harsh. I am not sure how they could restrict it to only English players – what if Cardiff got promoted to the Premiership, would they have to follow the same restrictions but with Welsh players?! I know they are a member of the English Football League but the fact a Welsh club can join would surely make it a bit silly to count Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish players as “foreign”. A very trick one don’t you think?
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Andrew McNair about 1 year ago
Yeah Matt it is....but I suppose it's a lil hypicritical of me to want as many good Scots in the EPL when in other articles im boasting about the current talent and amount of Scots coming through the Scottish game to Celtic and Rangers and England.
We shall just have to see how it goes....Celtic won the European Cup in 1967 with 11 Scots a feat that I don't think was ever repeated. So nothing is impossible but it would be sad to think of an EPL without Irish and Scottish players as it would be the end of yet another footballing era. I doubt there are many sides in England who don't have plenty of Scottish, Irish or Welsh heroes as times gone by!
Imagine Liverpool with no Rush, Souness or Dalgleish? Man Utd without Dennis Law or even more shocking an EPL without the likes of Keane and Given, as they would never have gotten that chance. But if they are to be classed as foreign to keep our independant FIFA status, then so be it.
Such a ruling will have no effect in Scotland as every team regularly playes over 6 Scots and we beat France twice and are 14th in the world!
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Matt S about 1 year ago
Indeed, the British influence on the English top flight has always been undervalued I feel. And as for Celtic winning with 11 Scots, I agree we'll never see anything like this again. It's a different era now and while I'm all for the best talent playing here I do think we're missing a trick by not nuturing our own talent.
Didn't the SPL introduce a rule a year or so ago saying that two of the substitutes named for a match must be Scottish and under 21 or something? That sounds like a great idea to me and something the English Premiership should really look at. Young English players just aren’t getting a chance at the moment and we need to do something about it.
What doesn’t help is when young English players with great potential move to the bigger clubs and get bogged down in the wrong part of “squad rotation” and find their chances limited – ie Bridge, Wright-Phillips, Crouch, etc. England don’t have that many players to choose from these days and it’s pretty depressing when the few decent players we do have don’t even play most weeks.
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Andrew McNair about 1 year ago
Yeah Matt it's 3 home grown under 21 players out of the seven on the bench I believe but I'm not 100% as it may well only be two. This really similarly effects the Scottish league the same as Englands 5 subs is not enough for the squad game, it is just the same with 7 subs if at least 2 of them are under 21.
It does though introduce players early to match days and the likes of Rangers and Celtic give all the youngsters a turn sitting on the bench and travelling with the first team. They are rarely used though. At other Scottish teams it quarentee's they invest in scottish talent as they cant afford to pay players not playing!
The real difference is Rangers and Celtic are willing to buy local! Until the big four change their transfer policies, little will change in England I'm afraid. Unless as the article says it is forced upon them.
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Matt S about 1 year ago
I agree, I think 2 (or 3) of the 7 subs to be English/Scottish and under 21 is a great rule and can only encourage teams to bring through their own talent. I only hope the English FA learn from their Scottish counterparts and introduce this quickly now that the Premiership has agreed to expand to 7 subs. While a club may use them just to make up the numbers it would make no long term sense not to bring through English talent that you simply would never use.
I think Mourinho often said he would have liked to include some youngsters on the bench, the likes of Scott Sinclair, but as he could only name 5 subs he could not risk leaving out, simply put, someone better. He argued that if he had 7 then he could afford to have a youngster or 2, still have a strong bench and then if the game is going well give the young guys a chance. Unfortunately he only ever got to use players like Sinclair in the FA/Carling Cups where managers aren’t afraid to risk/lose so much.
I agree that the top clubs need to buy local, Wenger has only bought five Englishmen in 10 years at Arsenal! But they are ridiculously over-priced it seems - £5m for David Nugent? I mean, come on! Da Silva was only £8.5m this summer as well and he is one hell of a lot better than Nugent and had played more than 10 minutes of International football, Champions League and even top-flight football! All for a couple million more? It’s no wonder managers look abroad. It’s the same with players like Curtis Davies – on loan at the moment but will move for a fee of around £9 if all goes well. £9m?! Or £5m recently for Gary Cahill. Crazy money just because they’re English. Compare to eighteen months ago when Fergie bought two young international defenders (Vidic and Evra) for around the same prices. Davies and Cahill are not close to international quality yet cost around the same – why? Because they’re English. I’ve no idea how we get around this problem and until we do it’ll be imports galore.
Any ideas?!
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Andrew McNair about 1 year ago
Well Rangers and Celtic are able to bully the other clubs into lowering the prices which is not good either i suppose. But are they really worth the original asking price as you make a really good point.
I feel the answer is not in buying English but in producing English and giving them a chance...Man Utd are still the best at it, but they could still do more. They would cope the best with any new rules.
Why bring 13 year old kids from Brazil...we have just as much talent at that age...it's just keeping them focused I think is the problem?
I'd have been a far better player without championship manager and playstations I can tell you.
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