According to an exclusive report from the Sunday Telegraph, the Premier League will continue to be able to sign 16 and 17-year-old players from within the European Economic Area during the transition period the UK and EU agreed would take place following the passing of the withdrawal agreement.
This is currently scheduled to run until December 2020, meaning Premier League clubs will still be able to sign European wonderkids in next summer’s transfer window. After that, things may become more difficult as immigration laws change.
British clubs have benefitted massively from this ruling in the past. Arsenal were able to sign Cesc Fabregas and Hector Bellerin for cut-price fees while they were still youth players. Manchester United poached Adnan Januzaj from Anderlecht and Paul Pogba from Le Havre.
Chelsea have also exploited this rule in recent years. They signed promising striker Daishawn Redan from Ajax while he was still a youth player, and though he never made a first team appearance at Stamford Bridge, they were able to sell him this past summer for a reported fee of £5million to Hertha Berlin.
More recently, Liverpool were able to sign highly rated Dutch defender Ki-Jana Hoever from Ajax for a reported £90,000. Though he’s yet to make a Premier League appearance, his professional debut against Wolves in the FA Cup last season made him the third-youngest player in Liverpool’s history – he was 16 years and 354 days old.
While the Premier League will be at a disadvantage compared to other leagues within the EU once this agreement elapses, it may have a knock-on effect of allowing more British academy players to make the step up.
Now read…
Ansu Fati becomes youngest Champions League goalscorer – but what happened to the others?
Why isn’t Hector Bellerin the Arsenal captain?
Ranked! The 10 best central midfielders in the world
Read More
