Premier League clubs are expected to prepare for Brexit by ensuring that half of the players in their first-team squads are ‘homegrown.’

The FA is reported to have drawn up measures designed to deal with our departure from the EU and will be putting them to the 20 PL clubs at a meeting on Thursday of this week.

And according to The Times  it will see the maximum number of overseas players in each 25-man squad slashed from 17 to 12.

West Ham currently has 17 foreign nationals on its books and like many other clubs is facing some extraordinarily difficult decisions to make.

(Photo by Arfa Griffiths/West Ham United via Getty Images)

However, with the breakthrough of such as Declan Rice, Grady Diangana and high hopes surrounding several other Academy products we may be in a batter place than many tocxope with the events brought on by Brexit.

However, among the issues raised by Brexit is that players from inside the EU could be forced to go through the same process required of non-EU players in search of a work permit.

It’s being reported the FA would offer a ‘governing body endorsement’ for a work permit for every overseas player who signs a contract with a Premier League side, in exchange for a deal to boost the number of homegrown players.

The current rules covering homegrown players is that he can be born overseas but spend three years in an English or Welsh club’s academy between the ages of 16-21. After Brexit, however, clubs will have to wait until a player from

Europe is 18 before signing them. The plan would would be subject to a transition period until at last the end of 2020.

A government spokesman told The Times: ‘We recognise the need for sports, including football, to continue to access talent from the EU and globally and are in discussions with sports bodies about this.’

Manchester City, Chelsea and the rest of the Premier League clubs will reportedly be given the full details of the plans at a meeting on Thursday.

ClaretandHugh says:

The emergence of our young academy prospects under the admirable guidance of chief, Terry Westley, could hardly have come at a more timely moment. Declan Rice is of course one of the team’s major stars and – despite his subbing on Saturday – Grady Diangana is starting to scale the heights. There are others on their way through and Nathan Holland is probably going to be the next to burst onto the scene. Conor Coventry, Joe Powell and Josh Pask along with goalkeeper Nathan Trott are other highly rated young stars for whom Brexit could come as a blessing in disguise depending on your point of view. Whilst results have been less than we may have expected so far this season, the growth of the academy has been an amazing development. That it comes at a critical political time is an even bigger bonus given the uncertainties surrounding our departure from the EU.