How Liverpool’s summer transfer window could be shaped by the homegrown player rule

When the Premier League introduced the ‘homegrown’ player quota in 2009, few expected it to turn out like this.

The rule for all 20 clubs to include at least eight names who qualify as homegrown in a maximum squad of 25 for a season was designed to “encourage youth development and the promotion of young players”.

Richard Scudamore, the league’s chief executive at the time, said: “Make, rather than buy, is our intention.” He admitted clubs would “always go abroad and look” but said that this new rule would “reduce squad sizes and stop the warehousing of players”.

There was also hope that the England national team would feel some benefit, with clubs limited to 17 non-homegrown players by a regulation designed to curb the stockpiling of overseas signings and open more pathways for domestic talent. The decision to exempt under-21 players from the quota, effectively allowing clubs to field as many emerging youngsters as they wished, felt like a progressive step, too.

Yet homegrown players — defined as someone “who, irrespective of nationality or age, has been registered with any FA-affiliated club for at least three years before their 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21)” — are still making up only a fraction of most starting line-ups in the Premier League, particularly at its current champions Liverpool.

The “make, rather than buy” part has worked to an extent, but largely for reasons that were not considered at the time, as the bulk of club-trained players are now sold on for profit to help balance the books and comply with the game’s financial regulations.

According to Opta data, the proportion of non-English players to feature in the Premier League this season is up to 70.76 per cent — the highest ever since the competition began in 1992. In its most recent round of weekend fixtures a fortnight ago, only 39 per cent of those competing were homegrown, with 26 per cent of them eligible for England.

Liverpool are an interesting example.

The table below shows how their squad would look for next season, assuming no departures or arrivals (ages are correct to September 14, the date Premier League squads had to be submitted by this season; those players marked in blue are considered non-homegrown).

In previous years, the club could point to having developed significant local talent such as Trent Alexander-Arnold, Tyler Morton and Jarell Quansah, all of whom have since earned big moves away, and other club-trained players also going on to be successful elsewhere.

But their numbers are dwindling.

Liverpool began their first two games of February without an Englishman or homegrown player in their starting XI. In this week’s Champions League round of 16 first legs, they had only two representatives — Joe Gomez and Jeremie Frimpong — among the 33 homegrown players to feature for the six competing English clubs.

They also have Curtis Jones and two highly-rated England youth internationals in 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha and Trey Nyoni, 18, who feature in almost every first-team matchday squad, but half of their older homegrown players are barely considered. Jones is the only genuine England-squad contender, with injuries counting against Gomez. Conor Bradley and Frimpong are both English-club academy success stories, but represent Northern Ireland and the Netherlands respectively.

The others are there to top up the squad. Third-choice goalkeeper Freddie Woodman, a now 29-year-old signed from Preston North End of the second-tier Championship last summer, has made just one appearance (in the Carabao Cup) since joining, while Fabian Mrozek, a 22-year-old Polish goalkeeper included in the 25-man squad for the first half of the season, and Rhys Williams, 25, came through the club’s academy at different ages, but have just one bench appearance between them this season.

In February, Mrozek was removed (he has now been loaned to FC Cincinnati in MLS) and replaced with fellow ’keeper Harvey Davies, who had been recalled from a loan at Crawley Town in League Two, the fourth tier of English football. Welshman Owen Beck was also added, despite having made just one seven-minute substitute appearance for Liverpool in the Premier League… back in January 2024.

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When the rules were introduced in 2008, Liverpool had the highest percentage in Europe of expatriate players within their squad (90 per cent).

A poll from the Professional Football Players’ Observatory at the time highlighted that English clubs employed the highest proportion of expatriate players, with 59.2 per cent coming from abroad. That had risen slightly to 60.6 per cent by 2023, which was around the time then England manager Gareth Southgate discussed the declining numbers of players starting in the Premier League who were eligible for him to select at international level.

Of course, Liverpool’s priority is not to provide for England but to build a squad capable of winning trophies in the club game.

Their homegrown players do not make up a significant portion of the starting XI unlike, for example, at Arsenal, Aston Villa or Newcastle United, but that does not mean they necessarily have a problem because of the rules around under-21 players.

Next season, the first-team squad may look considerably different, not only with the signing of French defender Jeremy Jacquet, who will join in the summer, and the expected return from long-term injury of Italy’s Giovanni Leoni, but also because of the potential departures.

Ibrahima Konate and Andy Robertson are both set to be out of contract at the end of this season and have yet to decide on their next steps, while Calvin Ramsay is expected to look for a move. Academy graduate Williams is also expected to end his long stay with the club when his contract expires in June.

There’s also the uncertainty around Gomez and Jones, who have just over a year left on their contracts, as well as potential changes ahead for Mohamed Salah, who will be in the same situation at season’s end and turns 34 in June. A parting of ways with Federico Chiesa could also suit all parties, given his continued status on the periphery of Arne Slot’s squad.

So let’s consider some of the possible non-homegrown exits, first by assuming that Konate and Robertson leave, as well as one of Salah or Chiesa, plus the most obvious departure in Ramsay. That would potentially free up four of the 17 spaces for new non-homegrown players, allowing Liverpool the opportunity to cast the net across the continent in search of signings.

Replacing Jones or Gomez on top of those exits would make the changes more difficult because of the limited amount of options. Essentially, in this most unlikely of situations, Liverpool would have to find six replacements, two of those being either homegrown or under the age of 21.

With Jacquet, Leoni and Ngumoha all expected to top up the first-team ranks next season (Nyoni is seen as the most likely to be loaned out), the risk of leaving the squad light on experience would arguably be too great by opting for more young replacements. Jayden Danns, 20, may come into the mix, too, so the need for some experience would be vital.

Finding a couple of homegrown players who can comfortably strengthen the squad is not easy. It’s one of the reasons missing out on the signing of Marc Guehi, who went from Crystal Palace to Manchester City in January, was a blow.

Of course, there may be fewer player exits this summer, which would make the planning process easier. Slot likes to have two players competing for each position, with youngsters providing backup. The numbers aren’t far off, especially as Liverpool have spent over £80million on two defenders under the age of 21 in Leoni and Jacquet who will only properly start to feature next season.

The question that remains, however, is how to retain enough quality homegrown players while also fitting in every non-homegrown one deemed essential.

When Vitezslav Jaros (homegrown), Harvey Elliott (homegrown) and Kostas Tsimikas return from their current loan spells, they will also come into the equation. Stefan Bajcetic will step up into being a senior homegrown player next year, too, as he turns 22 in October, and if Danns shakes off his injury issues, he could also contend for a place in the squad, although he’d still be an under-21 option.

All things considered, this year’s summer transfer window is likely to be busy for Liverpool, with the homegrown issue a key factor.

It’s why there’s a growing importance to strengthen the lower age groups, in the hope of increasing the number of breakthrough players in the years ahead. Arsenal, for example, have Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and William Saliba as key homegrown players and have signed top English talent in Eberechi Eze, Declan Rice and Noni Madueke, who were all developed at other clubs.

Long-term planning in the academy is key, yet the recent patterns that have emerged in the transfer market around young players go against the principal reasons the homegrown quotas were introduced.

In 2008, new financial rules were drawn up to protect the viability and sustainability of clubs and prevent a cash crisis. But teams have since found a loophole in the system by selling academy players for “pure profit” to balance the books, a move that has been widely criticised, yet adopted wholesale across the division by the likes of Villa, Newcastle, City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Everton. Liverpool, too, have sold homegrown stars for significant sums, despite them often being on the periphery of their senior squad — think Jarell Quansah and Tyler Morton last summer, or the likes of Jordon Ibe and Rhian Brewster in previous years.

The challenge for Liverpool, and their rivals, is keeping that flow of homegrown talent running while ensuring the squad stays sufficiently stocked with star quality for them to compete at the highest level.