So in an incredibly shocking EU referendum result which, while always a possibility, seems to have left the internet reeling, the United Kingdom has narrowly voted to leave the EU. We won’t delve too much into the politics as this is, of course, a Liverpool site, but we will take a look at how a ‘Brexit’ is likely to impact our club as well as the Premier League.
The short answer is that in the immediate future, we probably won’t see much change. Things aren’t going to happen overnight, and the UK’s separation from the EU will probably take years to fully materialise. There is obviously a lot of uncertainty surrounding the future following the result, but we can assume that most of the change will be gradual.
Nobody is going to get turfed from their home overnight, we won’t wake up to find that Emre Can has been put on the first plane out of the country, and in general we probably won’t see too many changes to the way things are done right now.
That said though, depending on the agreements made between the UK and the EU, things could gradually change in a big way in the future.
One of the major positives of being in the EU is the freedom of movement that comes with it. We’re allowed to go to other European countries to live and work, and vice versa. That means no work permits were required for foreign players within the EU who were heading to the Premier League.
It’s entirely possible that the UK could come to some arrangement with the EU over continued free movement or something of a similar ilk, although with the weight the Leave campaign put on the immigration problem that seems unlikely. If things do change and that freedom of movement is fully revoked, then players who don’t automatically qualify for work permits may be unable to complete transfers to the Premier League (via The Telegraph).
For Liverpool, this would include the likes of Emre Can, Mamadou Sakho, Simon Mignolet, Dejan Lovren, Adam Bogdan, Alberto Moreno, and Tiago Ilori to name a few; all of whom could have been prevented from making moves to England.
There are obviously loopholes, exceptions, and changes can be made to the work-permit laws, so again this probably won’t have too much of an impact. A player’s age however, could play a huge part in any potential transfer, as the rules there are somewhat stricter.
Players under the age of 18 may not be transferred to another country, with the exception of multi-nationals, players moving for other reasons beyond football, or players above the age of 16 within the EU. Many English clubs have had to wait to sign talented young South Americans due to these laws, but we’ve seen plenty of teen talent arrive from Europe. This would almost certainly change, and that could be one of the biggest changes.
With the decrease in new blood coming from foreign soil, British players would become far more highly sought after. English players in particular already come with a premium attached, and that is only likely to increase due to the Brexit. This is particularly going to be the case for young players (so a £35m Andy Carroll won’t become a £50m Andy Carroll), so even slightly promising young teens could be slapped with extortionate price-tags; smaller teams being regularly raided by Premier League giants in order to meet home-grown quotas and fill out their squads.
It’s unclear yet whether this will have a positive impact on English football as a whole or simply damage both youth football and some of the lower leagues. Many things are unclear though, and unfortunately we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
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For the moment we’re unlikely to see huge changes, but gradual change is almost certainly coming to both Liverpool and the Premier League.