The Football Association is expected to vote on Thursday to allow players to continue representing lower-league clubs on a short-term basis once the ban on such moves outside the transfer window kicks in this summer.
A change to domestic loan rules has been agreed by the game’s stakeholders after the Football League lost its years-long battle to maintain the emergency system, which Fifa ordered to be scrapped at the end of the season.
That ruling, which outlaws loan signings for any period less than half a season, would have been compounded by current domestic regulations prohibiting loanees returning to play for their parent clubs for the duration of their loan agreement.
But the FA’s sanctions and registrations committee is poised to rubber-stamp an amendment that will result in that ban applying only to first-team football.
Instead of a club being able to borrow a player on a month-by-month emergency-loan contract, they would be allowed to agree a half-season or season-long deal, in which players could take part in either first-team matches for the loan clubs or non-first-team games for their parent side.
This would give all parties similar flexibility as under the emergency loan system, albeit in a way that requires greater forward planning.
Harry Kane, the Tottenham striker, benefited from spending time out on loan
Clubs would need to decide during the transfer window which players to loan out or borrow on what are likely to be appearance-based contracts.
For example, if Adnan Januzaj was to join a Championship team on loan from Manchester United this summer but play no matches, his cost would be much lower than if he were to start all their games. And rather than being left to rot for up to a year, he could return to United to play for their under-21 side and would even be able to yo-yo between the two clubs for the duration of the loan agreement.
The new rules have already been agreed by the FA board and Premier League based on proposals put forward by the Football League to salvage key elements of the emergency loan system.
Lower-league clubs have become hugely reliant on this system – the final window for which opened last week and closes on March 24 – since transfer windows were introduced, with this season so far having 62 of 72 Football League teams agree almost 200 such deals between them.
These loans have been critical in helping cash-strapped sides avoid having to stockpile players to cover for an injury crisis in addition to providing first-team opportunities for top-flight youngsters without risking marooning them at a lower-league club.
There were real fears that Premier League sides would refuse to loan out players to Football League teams once the emergency system disappeared, something Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce last month warned would stunt youth development in England.
Allardyce, who was at West Ham United two years ago when they loaned Ravel Morrison to Queens Park Rangers for 93 days in which he helped them gain Premier League promotion, said: “Lower-league teams will have to take players on a full-season loan or a half-season loan, which increases the cost to those clubs’ budgets, which will put extra pressure on the manager not to take young players in case they don’t work out, which then cuts down our development of young players.”
Sam Allardyce has warned about stunting youth development in England Photo: GETTY IMAGES
Under the new rules, Football League clubs will still be prohibited from selecting more than five loan players in their 18-man match-day squad. They will also be prevented from borrowing more than four players a season from any one club, and no more than two over the age of 23.
And there is a specific provision regarding goalkeepers, with teams able to sign one at any time if they do not have a fit registered keeper who has made five senior appearances for any club.
Football League chief executive Shaun Harvey said: “We are pleased that we have been able to secure the support of both the FA board and the Premier League for these proposals which, if approved, would enable us to apply a domestic interpretation that would still be compliant with Fifa statutes.
“The flexibility this approach seeks to create will be crucial to the operation of our clubs and helpful to those players that find themselves out of the first-team picture or just cutting their teeth in professional football.
“Clearly, we could have waited to see what might develop under the new rule regime, but instead decided the matter needed addressing at the outset because of the financial and footballing needs of our clubs. Yet, at the same time we remain respectful of our previous commitments to Fifa.”
0 nhận xét:
Đăng nhận xét