Chelsea: Reliance on foreign transfers makes homegrown rule an issue

Chelsea and Manchester City lead all clubs among Europe’s “big five” leagues for signing players from foreign clubs. This ties into Chelsea’s recent search for England-based transfers, and raises lingering questions about English players spending parts of their career on the continent.

Chelsea and Manchester City are the only two clubs in Europe’s top five leagues with more than 75% of the players on their Premier League roster coming from foreign clubs. Arsenal, Huddersfield and Southampton join them in the top 15 clubs with the highest percentage of overseas signings, giving the Premier League the most representation atop the list.

The report from CIES Football Observatory suggests top-of-the-table clubs stock their squads with players from other leagues. However, there are notable exceptions at both ends. Werder Bremen is one place above the Bundesliga’s relegation zone, but ranked eighth on CIES’s list. Barcelona and Real Madrid were 35th and 39th, respectively. Meanwhile, the surprisingly eighth-place Premier League side Burnley were 97th. Only two of 22 Clarets hail from overseas clubs.

Because so few English players are in the top four continental leagues, this data reveals how dependent Chelsea and Manchester City are on non-English players from non-English clubs. Top clubs like Chelsea and Manchester City – and managers like Antonio Conte and Pep Guardiola – highly value players who have a breadth of experience in different playing styles from different countries.

This situation is coming to a head at Stamford Bridge. The Blues are nearly up against their quota for non-homegrown players, which is shaping much of their transfer discussions. Unfortunately, Andy Carroll and Peter Crouch would do more for Chelsea’s administrative compliance than offensive production.

The evergreen calls for Chelsea to “play the youth” would keep the Blues away from these precarious positions. The Premier League defines homegrown players as:

"[O]ne who, irrespective of his nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to the Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons or 36 months prior to his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21)."

This rule ostensibly came about to widen the pipeline for players from England’s academies to the Premier League. However, particularly for top clubs in the Premier League, it has become an annoyance or worse. They want to be able to buy the best players without concerning themselves about where they played for a few years in their early days.

Knowing the obvious – that the best clubs in England will scour the continent for the best players – the Football Association and its member academies should encourage England’s top youth to expand their careers in the continental leagues. This will raise their exposure to the game, increasing their transfer value both for a return home or wherever their career may take them.

Next: Chelsea found solutions in new tactics and formation, not big spending

It will also help the Premier League’s top clubs avoid a lukewarm transfer simply for compliance purposes. Chelsea should be able to look across the Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 and find any number of “England homegrown” players who will satisfy the manager. Otherwise, we can expect more cycles of the Blues pursuing transfer targets who barely have what the manager needs to win but will save the front office administrative headaches.