Regular readers will have noticed that we frequently refer to the ‘homegrown quota’ when assessing potential incoming transfer activity for Liverpool.
As the name would suggest, it pertains to the minimum number of players that Premier League clubs such as LFC must have in their first-team squad who were either born or trained in the UK, and how that could duly impact the signings that the hierarchy will seek to bring in.
The rules regarding what constitutes a ‘homegrown’ player usually vary between domestic and European competitions, while there’s also an allowance for under-21 or ‘List B’ players, so there can sometimes be confusion as to where the Reds stand in terms of their respective quotas.
Our explainer aims to clarify where Liverpool are at with their current squad in relation to the various requirements around this subject.
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What is the homegrown rule and why is it in place?
In the Premier League, a homegrown player is defined as someone ‘who, irrespective of nationality or age, has been registered with any FA-affiliated club for at least three years before their 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21)’.
The thinking behind that ruling is to improve the talent pool for England’s national team as clubs are required to select a specified percentage of homegrown players in their squads.
What are the requirements around homegrown player quotas?
In the Premier League, clubs are required to submit a squad list of no more than 25 players, with 17 the maximum permissible number of non-homegrown players. A full squad will contain at least eight who qualify as homegrown under the competition’s criteria.
It is possible that clubs with fewer than eight homegrown senior players will decline (or be unable to) name a full 25-player squad if they reach their threshold of 17 non-homegrown members.
What constitutes an ‘under-21 player’ in terms of the homegrown quota rules?
For the 2024/25 Premier League season, any player born on 1 January 2003 or later qualifies as under-21. There isn’t any limit on how many such players can be included in a club’s top-flight squad, so even if they have a non-UK nationality, they aren’t counted towards the non-homegrown quota.
Can non-English players now older than 21 qualify as homegrown?
The simple answer is yes. Regardless of nationality, a player can qualify as homegrown if they’ve featured for a club affiliated to the FA for at least three years before their 21st birthday.
Using Liverpool as an example, Caoimhin Kelleher can be classified as homegrown despite being 25 and a full Republic of Ireland international. He meets the Premier League’s criteria as he first came to Merseyside when he was 16 and has been with the club ever since.
With all that taken into account, where do Liverpool currently stand with their homegrown quotas?
Liverpool currently have 14 of their 17 permissible non-homegrown Premier League squad berths filled, with the summer exits of Adrian, Thiago Alcantara and Joel Matip freeing up three slots:
That leaves room for three more overseas players to be brought in this month, but that’s on the premise that Arne Slot selects no more than eight homegrown players aged 21 or older.
At present, he has 14 from which to choose and can include 11 if he wishes. It’s worth noting that this list contains a few names who’ll already be aware that they have no discernible first-team future at Anfield:
There are several players still 21 or under who are in or around the Liverpool first-team squad, such as Jarell Quansah, Conor Bradley, Stefan Bajcetic, Harvey Elliott, Bobby Clark and Ben Doak. They can be used in the Premier League without taking up a place on the 25-player list that Liverpool must submit.
Do the homegrown critera differ between the Premier League and Champions League?
Yes, there are some slight yet crucial differences in homegrown eligibility criteria between the two competitions.
Similar to the Premier League, UEFA requires clubs to reserve a minimum of eight squad berths for ‘locally trained’ players, with this category divided into two.
Four must be club-trained (i.e. someone ‘who, between the age of 15 and 21, irrespective of nationality and age, has been registered with his current club for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons’).
Four more can be association-trained (i.e. someone ‘who, between the age of 15 and 21, has been registered with a club or other clubs affiliated to the relevant national championship for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons’.)
Clubs can also submit a ‘List B’ of players 21 or younger as of 1 January 2003 who’ve either been eligible to play for them for a two-year uninterrupted period or three consecutive years with a maximum one-year loan to a club from the same country.
Taking that into consideration, where does that leave Liverpool’s Champions League squad in terms of homegrown quota requirements?
Liverpool can easily meet their complement of four club-trained players for UEFA competitions: Kelleher, Joe Gomez, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones and Tyler Morton all meet the criteria.
The Reds can also name four association-trained players right now in Nat Phillips, Fabio Carvalho, Marcelo Pitaluga and Sepp van den Berg.
If all of those are included along with the 14 non-homegrown squad members, it still leaves room for two more ‘foreign’ players to be brought in. Should any of the above names depart or be omitted, that allows for three overseas signings to be added.
Among those who qualify for ‘List B’ are Quansah, Bradley, Bajcetic, Elliott, Clark and Doak. The latter’s inclusion in that category is significant, as 12 months ago he couldn’t fill an under-21 berth because he hadn’t been at Anfield for long enough, but now he’s eligible for ‘List B’ having been on our books for two years.
Now that we understand the nuances surrounding homegrown criteria for the Premier League and Champions League, how could the various rules affect Liverpool’s transfer business?
Let’s look at some Liverpool-linked players and assess where they fall in with the various homegrown criteria:
Anthony Gordon
PL: Would count towards the homegrown quota, allowing for three ‘foreign’ additions over the age of 21
CL: Would count as an association-trained player
Aside from his obvious ability, another reason why Gordon may appeal to Liverpool is his homegrown status as an England international.
If the Reds were to sign the 23-year-old, he’d take priority over the likes of Phillips and Pitaluga for an association-trained berth.
Julio Soler
PL: Would qualify as an under-21 player (still only 19)
CL: Would have to be registered as a non-homegrown player despite being born after January 2003, due to having insufficient prior involvement in English football
The Argentine defender would take a non-homegrown Champions League berth if signed, but if he were to join Liverpool this summer, he’d qualify as an under-21 player for three Premier League seasons.
Pedro Neto
PL: The 24-year-old Portugal winger would be classed as a non-homegrown player.
CL: Same as above.
Despite being with Wolves since 2019, Neto doesn’t meet the homegrown criteria for either the Premier League or Champions League. That’s because, at the time of his 21st birthday, he was only in his second season at Molineux and therefore doesn’t qualify as homegrown or association-trained.
Joachim Andersen
PL: The 28-year-old Danish defender would be classed as a non-homegrown player.
CL: Same as above.
Although Andersen has been with Crystal Palace for three years (and was on loan at Fulham before that), he didn’t come to England until he was 24, therefore missing the threshold for classification as homegrown in the Premier League or association-trained for UEFA competitions.
Giorgi Mamardashvili
PL: The 23-year-old Georgia goalkeeper would be classed as a non-homegrown player.
CL: Same as above.
Willian Pacho
PL: The 22-year-old Ecuadorian would be classed as a non-homegrown player.
CL: Same as above.
As it stands, Liverpool could sign any three of the last four names on that list, plus Gordon and Soler, while still falling within the Premier League’s homegrown criteria.
That would require six of the current squad aged 21 or over to be culled, but with several of that list very much on the fringes at Anfield, their inclusions would be surprising even if the squad was being named today.
Slot could also sign three ‘foreign’ players plus Gordon for the Reds’ Champions League roster. In that event, either Phillips or Pitaluga would likely be omitted from the list, if they’re still at the club by then.
On that note, there’s several names currently at Liverpool who could well move on before the end of the month. The likes of Billy Koumetio, Rhys Williams, Owen Beck, Phillips and Pitaluga may all be deemed surplus to requirements, while others such as Morton and Van den Berg might depart on loan.
That would give Liverpool even more leeway in terms of signing players while still conforming to homegrown eligibility criteria, and they’ve a lot more wriggle room on that front now than they did 12 months ago due to Adrian, Thiago and Matip moving on.
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