Is the future of the Premier League homegrown footballers?

Any Premier League footballer subjected to chants of ‘he’s one of our own’ from supporters should consider themselves fortunate. Football fans love homegrown talent, and given the small number of players in the top flight who play for the club where they started out these days, it’s hardly surprising.

Every football club has its own culture, and any player who has come through a club’s youth ranks, especially if they happen to have been born in the area, will understand and share these values. While most players eventually leave the club they begin their career with, either in search of first team football and because of greater riches on offer elsewhere, a select few pull on the jersey of their ‘hometown’ team for many years.

For a great example, we needn’t look far. Exeter-born Jordan Moore-Taylor forms part of Exeter City every weekend, and captains the Grecians to boot. The supporters of few other English clubs, let alone Premier League clubs, have a player that provides such a local connection.

In fact, some sides have very few players in their squads that were born in England, never mind the local area. The further up the league pyramid we travel, the less prevalent English players are, with those clubs looking to qualify for the Champions League - 888sport recently predicted which ones would make it - usually the biggest culprits.

This brings to the recurring argument that the national football team cannot progress when there is such a lack of focus on homegrown players by the top division. Since the advent of the Premier League, the increasing sums of television money pouring into the coffers of its clubs has made it easier and easier for them to attract the finest talent from overseas

But this has come at a price - England’s top clubs no longer have many English players, as cherry picking the finest foreign talent is less time-consuming and risky for them than developing their own players.

The issue of homegrown players in the Premier League has been debated for some time, but now it is actively being addressed. Premier League rules now dictate that in a squad of 25 players, a minimum of eight must be homegrown.

While it remains to be seen what sort of impact Brexit will have on the game in this country, some of the initiatives put in place over the past year suggest great promise. The Football League has launched EFL Futures, which financially rewards clubs for fielding homegrown talent, while the Professional Game Youth Fund, financed by the Football Association, Football League and Premier League, has pumped £15million into the development pot.

Jamie Vardy has shown it is still possible for English footballers to make it to the top, even if they are initially rejected by a top club. Vardy spent the first five years of his career playing for non-league clubs after being released by Sheffield Wednesday at 16, and has gone on to win the Premier League and play in the Champions League and at the European Championships. 

It’s important young English footballers know they can make it in their own country, and even more important that the Football Association, Football League and especially the Premier League does more to help them. That way, we can begin to develop the next Harry Kane, Ross Barkley and Marcus Rashford - local boys that become Premier League players who can take English football forwards.