There was considerable debate on the comments section last week when news emerged that West Ham United had signed Cyrencio Summerville. Apart from the general euphoria at the capture of the Championship’s player of the season last year, many sought to argue back and forth as to his eligibility as a ‘homegrown’ player towards the Hammers’ quota.
Obviously if Summerville is classed as a homegrown player then his value to the squad is even greater: A quota of no less than 8 homegrown players must be submitted in the squad of 25 registered with the Premier League at the start of each season.
Under Premier League regulations, locally-trained or ‘homegrown’ players are defined as those who, regardless of their nationality, have been trained by their club or by another club affiliated with the EFA for at least three years between the ages of 15 and 21.
Ironically It doesn’t mean these homegrown players actually need to be of English nationality: it only takes into account their length of stay at an academy whilst they were between the ages of 15 to 21.
Victor Moses, Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku and Hector Bellerin, can you believe, have all counted as home-grown despite not being English! Meanwhile, Eric Dier, who has played for England, did not count as home-grown whilst at Spuds because he grew up at Sporting Lisbon in Portugal.
So, as far as Crysencio Summerville is concerned, it has been suggested that he missed out on being classed as homegrown because he signed with Leeds United in September 2020: After his 21st birthday.
From clarification with a highly-placed source within West Ham, it is clear that the club is not counting Summerville to be homegrown for Premier League registration.
This means of course that a careful path needs to be taken to ensure the requisite eight are within the squad: Note the emphasis on ‘England and Wales’ which means as one reader corrected me last week, Andy Irving being Scottish (irrelevant) but not being within an affiliated club for three years before his 21st birthday is also discounted from being registered with ‘homegrown’ status.
At this stage in the transfer window it can make or break Hammers’ recruiting deals if the target player has homegrown status. remember also that homegrown status only counts once a player has reached 21 years: So most academy players will be excluded from being registered as homegrown or counting towards the quota.
I thought that you were able to have a squad of 25 if it contains 8 homegrowns, not that you must have eight homegrowns and a squad of 25.
I thought for example that you could have a squad of 24 if it contained 7 homegrowns, or a squad of 23 if it contained 6 homegrowns, etc.
A maximum of 17 from overseas after which homegrowns to a maximum of 25.
Yes, John, your last line would be correct: A maximum of 17 from overseas after which homegrowns to a maximum of 25.
U21’s don’t count towards the quota either, regardless of their homegrown status. It’s 4 + 4 (8) + 17.
From memory, the first four have to be homegrown from within West Ham, the next four homegrown (for a total of eight) within England and the seventeen left have no restrictions.
Could be worth fact checking, but that was how I understood the rules from a few years back. They could have changed, and probably have.
4 + 4 only applies to UEFA competitions, Premier League Rules are the 8 HG must have spent at least 3 years between the ages of 15-21 with any club affiliated to the FA.
If Antonio or ings leave we won’t have 8 on my calculations
He was 19, not 21 when he signed for Leeds. He’s not eligible because he weren’t at the academy for at least 3 years.
Especially with George Earthy going to Bristol City. Thought he’d be in the 1st team squad.
Only 19, doesn’t count anyway
Well its a headache for someone just not me thankfully.
“Homegrown Quota takes a Hit” Hasn’t really has it? We have 8
There is no such thing as English nationality, is there? Only British nationality for citizens of U.K.
So home grown means a player that has played for a club in England and Wales between the ages of 15 and 21.
Seems like a lot of complication. What if they simplified the rule… “Would he be eligible to play for England, Wales, Scotland, NI at any age level”? I thought the idea behind it was to ensure British players are playing for British teams.
(And not, the “dead grandma was English”, excuse, either).
I sort of feel UEFA should level that playing field, too.
Oh, and National Team head coach/manager should also have the same eligibility requirements.
Might as well throw in, “if you go to Dubai or something, you are persona non grata”.
Exceptions: You have a proper haircut – Aaron Cresswell’s, to be exact. (but only if your barber has been cutting hair in your birth city for the past 51 1/2 years)
What do I know, though.
Who is responsible for ensuring the club meets PL requirements? Would that be the Technical Director or some other position? If it is determined that a club is in violation by the prescribed date (presumably first game kick-off), what is the penalty?
The squads don’t actually get submitted until the transfer window closes as it wouldn’t make much sense submitting squads before that date as you might still intend to sell or buy players, at present we have the 8 we require anyway, if we intend to submit a 25 man squad.
I did wonder about the January window, I guess whoever is responsible needs to be on the ball then as well. Thanks for the reply.
If you’re in violation of the rules by transfer deadline it just means you can’t register all your players I think, have to leave however many spaces open for youth players.. it is well too confusing, I’ve been playing football manager for like 10+ years and still haven’t really got it clocked, it’s why it’s good to sign as many 18 year olds as possible 😂
Martin – Moses was in Palace’s academy from a young age until he made his debut. You sure he’s not homegrown…
Ignore – misread your comment. My bad
Premier League Rules are Squad Composition:
Premier League squads consist of 25 players.
Of these, a maximum of 17 players can be non-homegrown.
The remaining 8 players must qualify as homegrown under specific criteria.
Clubs can choose not to fill their entire 25-man squad, but they must adhere to the homegrown and non-homegrown player limits
There are 26 names listed on the squad number list, none of which are under 21 AND homegrown. Which means one player on that list is not getting registered. Guesses on a postcard to Green St.
Luis Guilherme is eligible without being registered as he is 18. His homegrown status doesn’t affect that.
The club will get it right in time for the deadline which will most likely be the day before the Aston Villa match.