FA unveil tougher rules on foreign players

Oviedo joined Everton in August 2012 from FC Copenhagen for ٠m.

He was 22 at the time and a full Costa Rica international, then ranked 40th in the Fifa world rankings.

Under the new rules he should have featured in 75 per cent of his countryÂ’s international matches since 2010. But after making his international debut against Argentina in January 2010, Oviedo only featured in two of Costa RicaÂ’s next 13 squads.

The FA under Greg Dyke are really going to live down to the traditional view of what FA stands for.

Don't be fooled, this sort of claptrap always comes around when there's a general election on the horizon. It wont happen in a million years.

For all those resident in this country, mark my words. As soon as the election is over, this will die a death along with the reduction of petrol prices.

Cynical? not one little bit. Seen it all before in my life time?

that's a 10-4....

I've never really been in favour of these rules tbh. Firstly, the rules are a bit arbitrary. Why favour higher ranked countries? What happens if you are a fantastic player from a small (low ranked) country? Secondly, as Clive mentions, it is not addressing the real underlying issue which is a lack of local talent in the first place.

The best has to be law two. Arbitrarily it decides that, potentially, the best player in the world cannot come from a country outside Fifa's top 50.

Ghods! I could have done a better job myself, and probably a lot more cheaply.

A poor idea that will not sort out the problem which has got worse because the amounts of money that come with PL status, and the awful consequences that come with losing that position. This is why managers are taking less risk on homegrown players, and would rather employ match-ready internationals with proven pedigree.

Premier League football is 90% average but the marketing is great, and people buy into the bollocks. Look at English Clubs record in Europe, right now. We have got most of the money but it's making us worse, and as long as clubs stay in the top league, then they are happy.

How can you insult these multi millionaires, in such a superficial environment?

For example, in the summer (and January) all the players who want, or are forced, to be transferred go into a big pot. Like in an auction there are minimal bids to begin with, so the likes of Port Vale won’t bid 㿞k for Garbutt, well you get the picture. It would be far more democratic IMO.

Should be the other way around, payers from the top 10 ranked countries should be the best so should have no problem with 75% qualification with lower country players only needing 30% 'cos they're not so good.

The fact is that English players are SHIT!! They can try to restrict the amount of foreign (including Scottish, Irish and Welsh) players as much as they like but English players will still be SHIT.

Apparently I'm expected to believe evil foreign players and managers are stopping any number of young English Messi's from realising their potential just because Harry Kane is having a decent season. Personally I just think he's having a purple patch. Lets see if he can do it next season.

Remember the "Golden Generation"? Gerrard, Lampard, Cole, etc. The only thing stopping them from winning the World Cup was their own lack of talent.

Premier League clubs do not overlook talented players regardless of their nationality. If playing young English players could save them tens of millions in transfer fees then they would play them. But forcing them to play sub standard players simply because they are English is not going to improve the national side or do English clubs any favours in Europe.

If they want better English players then they have to start with the coaching a school level. More ball skills and less competitive games. More investment in facilities and coaches with real qualifications.

A much better system would be to scrap/ban the loan system altogether and have a squad limit of 18 players per club. The 18 players limit should not include players from the academy. In other words, a club can have as many academy players in their squad as they want, just not more than 18 players that they have not developed through their own youth team.

A system such as this would stop the likes of Chelsea stockpiling the best foreign talent from around the world and loaning them out to other clubs to develop. A system like this would force clubs to develop their own English talent and at the same time make the playing field more even. Of course it will never happen because it doesn't benefit the rich SKY clubs.

David Dein and other representatives of the 'rich' clubs have shaped the direction of the game for over 20 years, perhaps that is why Everton have failed to grasp the changing face of the game, they don't have anybody capable of or interested in assuming positions of power within the governing bodies.

Just like the financial fair play rules looked good initially but just makes sure that the cartel of rich clubs will not have their position challenged. So, even if we were to get a billionaire owner, he would be severely restricted as to how much he could pump in for player transfers. So what happened at Man City will not be allowed to happen as quickly as they progressed.