22 February/23 February 2020 ★ FTWeekend 3
N AT I O N A L
M U R A D A H M E D, J O H N B U R N - M U R D O C H
A N D SA M M Y M N G Q O S I N I
Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp says
“Brexit — makes no sense”. Former Car-
diff City manager Neil Warnock argues
theUKwillthriveoutsidetheEU:“Foot-
ball-wiseaswell,absolutely.Tohellwith
therestoftheworld.”
December’s general election victory
for Boris Johnson may have settled the
long-running Brexit argument, with the
UK formally leaving the EU at the end of
last month and triggering a transition
periodwhilebothsidesthrashoutanew
tradingrelationship.
But power brokers running the coun-
try’sfavouritesportremaindivided.For
months they have been battling over
how to deal with new immigration rules
for overseas footballers playing in Eng-
land after December this year, which
will come into force when freedom of
movement between the UK and the 27-
nationblocends.
This week Priti Patel, home secretary,
unveiled a controversial immigration
systemaimedatreducingthenumberof
low-skilled workers from EU countries,
settingasalarythresholdof£25,600.
While Premier League players are
among the country’s top earners, after
the Brexit transition ends those coming
fromtheEUcanexpecttobetreatedthe
same as stars from other parts of the
world.
The government has demanded the
Football Association, Premier League
and English Football League, the body
that runs the professional club divisions
below the top tier, make a joint proposal
for how immigration rules should affect
football once the country has secured a
newtradedealwithBrussels.
For the FA, English football’s govern-
ing body, the UK’s departure is a rare
opportunity to introduce curbs on the
number of foreign players at top clubs.
That will force clubs to develop more
local talent that will boost the England
national team, which reached the semi-
final of the 2018 World Cup following
years of underachievement in interna-
tionaltournaments.
The Premier League, the top tier of
English club football, is fighting the pro-
posals. It suggests they will harm one of
the country’s great international
exports, with clashes between teams
stocked with the world’s best players
viewedavidlyacrosstheplanet.
“It remains to be seen what the solu-
tion is — we’re not close to anything,”
said Richard Masters, the Premier
League chief executive, this month. “If
you did have a quota system that was
vastlydifferenttoEuropeyouwouldput
ourtopclubsatabigdisadvantage.”
According to people familiar with the
talks, the FA initially demanded a curb
onthemaximumnumberofnon-home-
grownplayersallowedineachteam’s25-
playersquadfrom17to12.
Under the EU’s immigration rules,
homegrown players are counted as
those registered with the FA for at least
three years before they are 21 years old,
regardless of nationality. That has
allowed top English clubs to scoop up
some of the best European players aged
between 16 and 18. Midfielder Cesc
Fàbregas,forexample,joinedArsenalin
2003 aged 16 from Barcelona but was
classified as homegrown. With the UK
having left the EU, the rule is expected
to change so that only players from the
UK home nations — England, Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland — are
countedashomegrown.
European footballers will then be
expected to meet the same criteria as
non-EUnationalstogainaworkpermit,
such as regularly playing for their
nationalteam.
Those requirements may have
excluded entry to promising players
such as Chelsea’s Frenchman N’Golo
Kanté and Manchester United’s
Anthony Martial, also French, when
theyfirstjoinedtheirrespectiveclubs.
To gain agreement for quota changes,
the FA offered to loosen the criteria for
all overseas players to gain work per-
mitstoplayinEngland.Thatcouldopen
the door to less-established players
fromSouthAmerica,forexample.
So far, the Premier League’s 20 mem-
ber clubs have rejected the FA’s propos-
als,leavingtherivalsidesatanimpasse.
TheFAsaidthatwhilealteringmatch-
day quotas would require a change to
Premier League rules, to which the
clubs must agree, it still “wants to see
more playing time for young English
players”.
It added that work permit rules were
set by the Home Office in consultation
with the FA. “The default position will
be that all players will be subject to
existing criteria unless new arrange-
mentsareagreed,”itsaid.
Thelackofanagreementbetweenthe
FA and Premier League would lead to
problems for many top clubs seeking to
satisfy immigration rules. More than
half the current playing squads at Wol-
verhampton Wanderers, Chelsea, Man-
chester City, Norwich City and Arsenal
are EU nationals, according to a Finan-
cialTimesanalysis.
However, people close to the Premier
League’sleadershipsaiditwasconfident
the FA would back down from its more
stringent demands. There is growing
acceptance that its suggested changes
wouldhaveunintendedconsequences.
One would be to hamper the develop-
ment of players such as Aston Villa’s
Jack Grealish and Leicester City’s James
Maddison. They have earned regular
starting places at their teams and are in
contention to join other established
players such as Raheem Sterling andFootball chiefs split over game plan for visas
Premier League opposes FA proposals to restrict the number of foreign players at top clubs in response to post-Brexit immigration rules
‘If you had a quota system
vastly different to Europe
you would put our top
clubs at a big disadvantage’
L AU R A H U G H E S
The first of the old-style dark blue
British passports will go into circula-
tion from early next month in a highly
symbolic break with the EU.
The government announced today that
the first of the new travel documents
wouldbeissuedinMarchwithafullroll-
out by the middle of the year, signalling
the end of the burgundy EU design
adoptedbytheUKin1988.
The decision to revert to the old
designwaswarmlywelcomedbypromi-
nent Brexit campaigners when it was
announced in December 2017. But three
months later, there was an outcry after
it emerged that the government had
awarded the contract for the new docu-
ments to Gemalto, a Paris-based secu-
rity company which is now part of
French defence contractor Thales, over
UK-basedincumbentDeLaRue.
Commenting then as a backbencher,
Priti Patel, home secretary and strong
advocate of Brexit, described the deci-
sion to award the contract to a French
company as “a national humiliation”.
Today, Ms Patel said: “Leaving the
European Union gave us a unique
opportunity to restore our national
identity and forge a new path in the
world.” She added: “By returning to the
iconic blue and gold design, the British
passport will once again be entwined
with our national identity and I cannot
waittotravelonone.”
The Home Office said that the new
documents would be “personalised” in
the UK and a new back cover for the
passports will carry a design featuring
the floral emblems of England, North-
ernIreland,ScotlandandWales.
Holders of the existing EU version,
adopted after years of debate regarding
its colour, can continue to use it until it
expires,thegovernmentsaid.
The latest version will include better
security features, such as a “hard-wear-
ing, super-strength polycarbonate data
page, which contains innovative tech-
nologies embedded into the document,
tokeeppersonaldatasecure,”theHome
Officesaid.Brexit
Blue passports set for rollout in
symbolic return to old design
Wolves have been the most reliant
on EU players this season
Percentage of team’s league minutes played by players
of each nationalitySource: FT analysis of Transfermarkt Graphic by John Burn-Murdoch BurnleySheield UnitedBournemouthAston VillaLiverpoolEvertonNewcastleLeicester CityMan UnitedSouthamptonBrightonCrystal PalaceTottenhamWatfordWest HamNorwich CityMan CityChelseaArsenalWolves EU UK OthersIn future, promising players from EU countries, such as Manchester United’s French international
Anthony Martial, left, may not meet criteria for work permits— Peter Powell/EPAHarry Kane in Gareth Southgate’s Eng-
land team at this summer’s European
Championships.
Football executives believe the FA
proposals would make these English
starlets bigger targets for the so-called
Big Six clubs — Manchester United,
Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal,
ChelseaandTottenhamHotspur.
Daniel Geey, a sports lawyer at
Sheridans, said these elite clubs would
respond to restrictive quotas by paying
huge transfer prices to acquire the best
English talent and hoard it in their
squads. But there is no guarantee these
playerswouldplayinthefirstteam.
Mr Masters, the Premier League’s
chief executive, said that “in a perfect
world” an agreement would be reached
before the start of the summer transfer
window, a three-month period when
teamscantradeplayers.Thatisthefinal
opportunityforPremierLeagueclubsto
overhaul their teams before a new UK
immigrationregimecomesintoforce.
“If it takes longer... so be it,” added
MrMasters.“Itisrightwegetitright.”
Jonathan Derbyshirepage 12FEBRUARY 22 2020 Section:World Time: 21/2/2020 - 19: 12 User: john.conlon Page Name: UKNEWS2, Part,Page,Edition: LON, 3, 1