Home Grown Players (HGP) Quota – Summer 2023 Transfer Window

Each year I write about the Premier League’s 25-man squad requirement and the implications of the home grown players rule and how it will impact on Spurs’ transfer strategy. The home grown player numbers could impact on how many signings we can make, the nature of those signings and/or the size of our squad for the rest of the season.

The Premier League ‘Home Grown Players (HGP)’ Rule

The basic point is that we can name a maximum of 17 non-home grown players (HGPs) in our squad. The common misconception about the requirement is that clubs must name eight HGPs in their squads. We could name fewer than eight HGPs, but would need to also name fewer than 25 players in our squad — for example, if we only have seven HGPs, we can name a 24-man squad, 6/23, 5/22, etc. 

Remember, an HGP is defined as one whom, irrespective of 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, before his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21). Source: Premier League.

As ever, we will not need to name players who are under 21 on our squad list, so could augment our squad with youngsters. This would mean that we could manage with, say, a 22-man squad with just five HGPs, but would need plenty of under 21 players who are ready to play. For the 2023/24 campaign, players considered ‘under 21’ will have been born on or after 1 January 2002. This means that for the current season we could still have a number of ‘freebies’ who are fairly well-known names, the likes of: Troy Parrott, Pape Matar Sarr, Max Robson, Yago de Santiago Alonso, Maksim Paskotši, Nile John, Matthew Craig, Josh Keeley, Jude Soonsup-Bell, Dane Scarlett, Alfie Devine. Some of these players will ultimately be sent out on loan, of course.

From this season, Bryan Gil and Harvey White would need to be named on our squad list should we wish to use them as they were born before 1 January 2002.

The UEFA ‘Home Grown Players (HGP)’ Rule

Obviously we are not in any European competitions next season, but the UEFA rules may factor into our squad planning as, hopefully, we will be planning for a European campaign in a year from now.

The UEFA rules are a little different to the Premier League rules — have a look at article 45 (‘Player Lists’) of the regulations. UEFA don’t just want clubs to have players trained elsewhere in the FA structure; they have additional requirements for club-trained players. They want to encourage clubs to bring through their own young players.

The good news is that last year a rule change was implemented whereby Welsh players who trained at clubs affiliated with the English league system now count as ‘homegrown’ in Europe. Previously they counted as ‘foreign’ players. For us, this is Ben Davies and Joe Rodon, who trained at Swansea. They would now count as ‘homegrown’.

If we wanted to name a ‘full’ (25-man) squad in a UEFA competition, we would need at least four ‘association-trained’ players and four ‘club-trained’ players in List A (players over 21). Those that currently qualify are:

Club-trained players

• Harry Kane
• Alfie Whiteman
• Brandon Austin
• Japhet Tanganga
• Oliver Skipp
• Brooklyn Lyons-Foster
• Harvey White
• Troy Parrott (from 2024/25 season)
• Max Robson (from 2024/25 season)

Association-trained players

• Fraser Forster
• Ben Davies
• James Maddison
• Joe Rodon
• Ryan Sessegnon
• Djed Spence

Players under 21 can be included on List B so long as they have been ‘eligible to play for the club concerned for any uninterrupted period of two years since his 15th birthday by the time he is registered with UEFA, or a total of three consecutive years with a maximum of one loan period to a club from the same association for a period not longer than one year.’

We have a whole host of potential List B Players who might be useful were we to qualify next year though, of course, several will likely be out on loan.

Summary

We currently have 30 players who would need to be named on the Premier League squad list if we wanted to play them (the maximum allowed is 25). A good few of these players are expected to leave (Giovani Lo Celso, Davinson Sanchez, Hugo Lloris, Ivan Perišić, etc), Brooklyn Lyons-Foster is a previously unused youth player, plus we have two goalkeepers in Brandon Austin and Alfie Whiteman. Therefore, it’s difficult to draw too many conclusions about whether the squad list restrictions will be an issue for us at this point; but I would say probably not.

Of the 30 players, 17 are not HGPs. We will, no doubt, be selling several non-HGPs, and so it should not be a problem, but it is something the club will need to keep in mind when signing further non-HGPs.

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