Premier League clubs will be required to increase the number of English players within their ranks once the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, in order to meet new regulations being discussed in Brexit talks.
The Daily Mail has revealed that clubs within England's top flight will need to increase the amount of 'homegrown' players in their official 25-man squads from the current requirement of eight to ten.
At the moment, clubs must have at least eight homegrown players in their squads, although homegrown can also include foreign players who spent three years in England between the age of 16-21.
Under the new plans, that figure looks likely to rise to eight, and the term 'homegrown' will include only players with a British passport.
The new regulations will be sure to shake up a few Premier League side's squads quite drastically, with Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City and Huddersfield the four teams with the least homegrown players.
The context to the 'football Brexit' talks is that all sides (not least FA and PL) actually agree the decline of the English player in the Premier League is a bad thing. That decline in numbers here pic.twitter.com/nQjsNLIWX7
— Nick Harris (@sportingintel) September 9, 2018
The Blues and the Terriers have five homegrown players each, whilst the Gunners and the Citizens have six each, with all of them used sparingly as fringe players.
In an attempt to get the Premier League to agree to these new terms, the FA will back any signing a club wants to make either from inside or outside of Europe by giving them a guaranteed work permit.
The FA nor the Premier League is expected to speak out about the new requirements, but it is believed that the last issue is the amount of Brits needed in each squad.
The range is likely to be between 10-12, and the Government will need to approve any deal.
Topically, the news follows England boss Gareth Southgate's concerns about the amount of chances being given to English players.
In comparison, back in the Premier League's inaugural season of 1992/93, around 72% of players were English, whereas nowadays, that figure is down to 31%.