FIFA has a proposal on the table to limit clubs to a maximum of eight loans from their squad to other teams in a season.
Sport Bild has the story, detailing the plan, which is reportedly supported by the Bundesliga.
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According to the report: “The sole exception to the FIFA decision: Talents under the age of 21 who have been trained by their home club and have been under contract there for an extended period of time may continue to be loaned in unlimited numbers to further their development by collecting match practice elsewhere.”
This would waylay the current practice of bigger clubs like Chelsea, which has 40 players playing for other clubs including Americans Matt Miazga (Nantes) and Kyle Scott (Telstar).
Could this lead clubs to subvert academy rules and sign more players, younger? There are limits on scholars, sure, but clever teams are going to look for an edge.
And what would it mean to players from outside of Europe? Certainly Major League Soccer, Liga MX, and several name South American leagues would have its best young players a bit longer, but at what cost, if any, to national team development?
The rule would certainly strengthen teams deep into the market on account of Chelsea; Michy Batshuayi, Baba Rahman, Kenedy, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Kurt Zouma, Kylian Hazard, Mario Pasalic, and Kenedy would have the loan number at 8 before Chelsea considered what to do with any of their other non-CFC Academy talents.
And while 40 is an absurd number, eight is average if pretty low.
Arsenal has 7, Bournemouth 6, Brighton 5, Burnley 8, Cardiff 4, Crystal Palace 6, Everton 14, Fulham 1, Huddersfield Town 5, Leicester 4, Liverpool 12, Man City 12, Manchester United 5, Newcastle 5, Southampton 12, Spurs 2, Watford 8, West Ham 7, Wolves 19.
