Onyekuru completes loan move to Galatasaray

Time for the young man to grow up, get his stuff together and start expressing that marvelous talent.

Even more confusing is that we won't be in the EU after March... (Oh, hold on a sec...)

And our hope isn't that he gets a Belgian passport either, but that he becomes a regular for Nigeria. That should be enough for him to get a passport. If he doesn't become a regular for Nigeria, then we probably won't want him playing for us anyway.

What annoys me is, if the lad was signed by Man Utd or someone, the panel that decides if someone can be considered 'special talent' and get a work permit without having the caps would probably grant the decision. With his reputation, one would expect he could get a permit.

But as Kristian says, UK should be out of the EU come next July and so freedom of movement of workers might not allow him to come to Everton and play as a Belgian citizen.

No idea how this affects footballers outside the EU though. If no one can move in the EU to the UK anymore I don't know how staying in Belgium would help either.

As the fella is Nigerian also he could have benefitted from an EU regulation if he were family to someone living in the EU. It seems the Nigerian has to get in the UK based on his own merits.

On the ballot paper it never said "Do you want to leave the EU even if X, Y, Z could happen, and it will affect your favourite football team because it will be harder to bring in players outside the EU, in the EU, and in inner and outer space?" It just said "Do you want to leave the EU?"

I see that Henry would have to remain in Belgium (or Europe?) to gain his three years residency allowing him to join us. How does that affect his qualification if he is going to Turkey?

If that is a stupid question, I apologise... but I have had a gin or two and I am obviously missing something – apart from the lime.

There's a part of me that thinks none of the clubs involved have thought about any of this. I mean, football clubs can do what they want, can't they?

I suppose the idea behind a Turkey move is to get him playing and playing well and then into the Nigeria team and then, come the end of the next season, we can argue he's a special talent or that injury prevented him from getting enough caps.

I know that the NHS and other industries bring in staff from around the world under the skilled worker Commonwealth visas, I wonder if this would be a possibility for a football player?

Paul Tran @21, This was the club who gave Nyarko a 5-year contract on a 4-year visa, so anything is possible with us.

Steve (#22), I would have thought that was a gamble too far in presuming he would be picked for Nigeria and then get him into the UK as a "special talent". However, having said, that is probably the only conclusion one can draw from this strange case of our Henry. Thanks.

As for whose laws apply where; FREE JULIAN ASSANGE!

Wot, the Law an ass!

His record in the Belgian league doesn't impress me much. Anyone seen him play?

By then he should have played sufficiently for Nigeria to get a work permit.

From what i've read he's quick, skillful, a good dribbler and can finish. What's not to like? And the 6,8 million we paid for him is buttons in todays' market.

See work permit regulations here Link

If Brexit goes ahead, the English clubs will be making a case to change the rules regarding foreign players. to allow signing of EU players as before. Every time I hear of a work permit problem like this, I wonder how did Man Utd manage to get permits for Brazilians Fabio and Rafael da Silva.

If he doesn't, then I doubt we'll really be wanting him here. But the expectation is that he will.

I don't think the club has dropped a ball here (i.e. not staying in Belgium). For a young player, much better him playing for a manger and a club that respects him, and that he is happy playing for. Other than Anderlecht, what other team in Belgium could offer a high level of training, quality teammates, facilities, European football? None.

Turkish teams generally are competative in Europe, the league has produced many a player to later succeed in stronger European Leagues. It won't be an easy ride for him, so he will have to improve.

I fully expect Henry to be with us next season, and look forward to the fact.

Since August 2017, Nigeria have played in a whopping 19 internationals. If my Maths are correct, to be eligible for a work permit via the 75% rule next season, he will have to play 57 internationals for Nigeria before August 2019, i.e. 57 out of 76 over 2 years. So, it appears we will be waiting for another 2 years to see Henry in blue.

Victor #43, he wouldn't have got an EU passport playing 2 years in Belgium anyway.

At the time we signed Henry, he had just earned two caps for Nigeria and it was expected he would make an impression with Anderlecht and continue to gather caps, especially with 19 games in past year. Just didn't work our way.

Also Frank, you forget that Henry had already played a year in Belgium before we signed him, so he'd done 2 years in Belgium, and another year would have made 3 years, and so allowed him to apply for a passport. As I think I said above, there's a big question mark over this, because there's strict rules on continuous living, and Henry spent an extended period in the UK doing rehab at Finch Farm (and loved it by all accounts) which I think will have scuppered his Belgian passport application.

Were we to restrict general migration form the EU (or anywhere else) the parameters would be likely to include a lower limit on income to insure people contribute enough fiscally to cover their share of the government's costs. On that basis, we can safely say that Henry's likely salary would be plenty enough to make a sufficient contribution to the nation's coffers.

But we have rules over and above this which are not really concerned with the main topics of general migration, but specific to a supposed need to prevent the PL from becoming flooded with sub standard foreign players, and thus limiting the opportunities for British players. Hence the current rule about foreign players having to show they would add to the game, evidenced by e.g the number of international caps.

Players from EEA countries cannot by EU law be restricted in this way, so in theory you can currently sign whatever donkey you wish from Anderlecht, provided the players is a citizen of an EEA member and provided you are also complying with the rules on home grown players, which I suppose is a way of trying to circumvent EU law on totally free movement. That may well change after Brexit and because of changes to free movement, but the point is that it doesn't need to change after Brexit since I suggest pretty much every footballer, unless a donkey with only two legs, is likely to more than exceed the necessary salary/fiscal test that is probably going to applied to future economic migrants, of which footballers is one category.

Once we leave the EU we will be free to keep or change these rules as we see fit but they are much more likely to be driven by FA/PL rules than general immigration rules.In other words, I suspect our general rules on economic migrants would allow pretty much any halfway decent footballer to come here from anywhere, but there will be sector specific rules which will prevent that happening in the case of footballers- for better or worse.

On the special talent appeal you mention above, it appears that is based on rules like salary and fee paid being in the top 75% of earners/players in Premier League, so I don't think he would qualify that way.

Where all as fluxxomed as each other.

My children can obtain Irish passports simply because their grandparents (only need one) were Irish citizens. On the other hand I can only get a Danish passport through my grandfather if I fulfill residency requirements in Denmark. None of us currently need visas to work in the EU.

If we wished obtain vidas to work outside the EU we would have to satisfy the individual rules of the relevant country. They are all different. People from outside the EU seeking work visas in an EU country need to satisfy the individual requirements of that country. They are all different. Ergo, we don't have to take back control of immigration from outside the EU. We never lost it. Govt could more than halve immigration by stopping this, the majority of immigrants arrive from outside the EU.

Of course I'd then be short of an excellent (Columbian) GP. Selfish of me I know.

If either of them is a Prince then tell them I've inherited a
large some of cash which I need to get out of the Government's grasp.

If they send me their bank details I'll telegraph the money to them and we'll share it out.

Oh! and there's a bob or two in it for you as well.

I assume Henry has no such ties to the UK or to Belgium or we would have heard of them by now.