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why is it a blow to French football

Over the past ten years, Ligue 1 clubs have collected around 1.25 billion euros thanks to player transfers to the Premier League. A record. But in 2021, because of the end of the Brexit transition period on January 1, everything will change.

Foreign players will now have to obtain a points permit to come and work in England, after a clever calculation. Me Thierry Granturco, lawyer specializing in sport, details for RMC Sport: “This license will aim, somewhere, to assess the quality of the player. We will examine his career in the club, the” prestige “of the club, the championship in which it evolves, if the player has played in a European Cup or if he has selections with the national team… It is therefore rather players with confirmed career paths who will be able to access the Premier League “.

Kanté and Mahrez could not have signed

Apart from possible derogations, these measures close the door to footballers playing in smaller clubs. In 2015, for example, world champion N’Golo Kanté would probably not have joined Leicester from Stade Malherbe in Caen if these rules were applied. Just like Riyad Mahrez, who arrived from Le Havre to Leicester in 2014.

“The English federation realized that it was having trouble bringing out young British talent, reports Vincent Chaudel, sports economist and founder of the Sport Business Observatory. It therefore wanted to take advantage of Brexit to favor young people. from the country”.

Other changes: foreign minors will not be able to sign in English clubs. The latter will also have to be limited to the recruitment of six players aged 18 to 21 each year (three maximum per transfer window). So many constraints that will handicap French football financially.

More difficult to sell?

“It will be more complicated for Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 clubs to sell certain non-international elements, assures Vincent Chaudel. Until then, England had been our favorite, privileged client. It is a problem for football. French who has a great need to bring in money with the Covid-19 crisis and that of TV rights “.

Me Thierry Granturco abounds: “Until now English clubs recruited quantitatively, by saying that there would be talents among the mass of players… Tomorrow, they will have to recruit qualitatively”. And therefore in a more targeted way.

The only advantage: the clubs of League 1 and Ligue 2 may be able to keep their nuggets longer. “If the rule is applied strictly, we will have players trained in France who will stay longer in our championship, develops Vincent Chaudel. They could bring more competitiveness to the championship and could leave for larger sums”.

But before that, we will have to finish the season without a hitch. However, while the winter transfer window begins, the French clubs no longer touch their ticketing revenues and are, for the moment, deprived of the money from TV rights.

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