There may be uncertainty over Brexit, but Leicester City seem well set for any eventuality as the clock ticks down to the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union.
The form of Brexit is still uncertain, if it indeed happens, but City’s policy of producing and recruiting home-grown talent has placed them in a good position regardless of the outcome.
The current rules state that clubs in the Premier League cannot have more than 17 overseas players registered in their squads, but the FA is expected to cut that number to 12 post Brexit as EU players will be subject to the same visa conditions as players from outside the EU.
Of the City squad that featured at Burnley in their last Premier League fixture, just ten were classed as overseas.
Currently, Caglar Soyuncu, Ricardo Pereira, Eldin Jakupovic, Daniel Amartey, Shinji Okazaki, Youri Tielemans, Papy Mendy, Wilfred Ndidi, Christian Fuchs and Rachid Ghezzal would be classed as overseas players.
Kasper Schmeichel and Kelechi Iheanacho are classed as home-grown players, despite playing for Denmark and Nigeria respectively, because they were registered with English clubs for three years before their 21st birthday, although it has been reported the FA are considering reducing the age by which players should have been registered for three years to 18.
Fuchs and Okazaki are expected to leave in the summer, while Tielemans loan from Monaco expires then, but City have Fousseni Diabate, Filip Benkovic and Adrien Silva returning to take them back to ten before what is expected to be a busy summer of transfer dealings.
Currently, non EU players must apply for a work permit which is determined based on the number of international caps, the FIFA ranking of the country the player represents, the transfer fee and the wage agreement, and that could be extended to EU players, but even then it may not be straight forward as clubs may be able to argue for visas along the lines of the players’ potential to become a regular senior player.
It still won’t be straight forward.
The Premier League has been opposed to a restriction of overseas players and it believes an inability to attract the best international players will damage the league’s status as the world’s most popular domestic league.
The government have been discussing the issue with the FA and are keen to come to an agreement, with the FA keen to offer Governing Body Endorsements for work permits for every foreign player who gets a contract with a Premier League club in exchange for a deal to reduce the number of overseas players ahead of Brexit.
Whether the UK opts for a soft Brexit or a hard Brexit, or even no Brexit at all, is expected to complicate the matter even further.
Meanwhile, City have promoted several players from the academy in recent years, most notably Ben Chilwell, Harvey Barnes and Hamza Choudhury.
This season Choudhury and Barnes were exempt from having to be named in City’s 25-man squad because they were born after January 1, 1997, but they will have to be registered in the official Premier League squad from next season.