How Tottenham’s homegrown squad numbers could impact Mourinho’s transfer plans

There has been plenty of speculation about incomings as well as outgoings at Tottenham over the past few weeks ahead of Jose Mourinho’s first summer transfer window as Spurs head coach.

However, Tottenham’s transfer strategy has to include calculations about ‘homegrown’ as well as ‘non-locally trained’ players in order to ensure they do not sell themselves short like they have done in the past.

Mauricio Pochettino had to leave Juan Foyth out of the Champions League squad last season due to the lack of spaces for non-locally trained players (Sports Mole) while Jose Mourinho opted to do the same thing with Victor Wanyama this season (Daily Nation).

Football.London has now provided a detailed explanation of where Tottenham stand at the moment with respect to meeting their homegrown criteria and how potential new acquisitions could affect their squad balance.

They explain that there are different considerations for the Premier League and European competitions when it comes to classifying players.

UEFA allows a maximum of 25 players to be named in the A-list, two of whom must be goalkeepers. There are a minimum of eight places reserved exclusively for locally trained players.

According to the European body, a ‘locally trained player’ is “someone who was on a club’s books for three years between the ages of 15 and 21 – or an association-trained player – someone who was on another club’s books in the same association for three years between the ages of 15 and 21.”

The Premier League meanwhile allow no more than 17 players who do not fulfil the homegrown criteria in the 25-man squad and they define a homegrown player as “a player who, irrespective of nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to The Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons, or 36 months, before his 21st birthday.”

This means that while Ben Davies would be considered homegrown according to the FA’s rules he will be considered ‘non-locally trained’ in UEFA competitions.

It is revealed that as things stand Tottenham have no problem with respect to the Premier League criteria as they can name four more foreign players in their 25 man squad.

However, the Lilywhites are said to have the exact number of foreign players required for a European squad. This means that if they bring a foreign player in this summer, they will likely have to let someone leave.

This scenario could change when Jan Vertonghen and Michel Vorm will both see their contracts end this summer.

This will not be impacted should Danny Rose and Kyle Walker-Peters return from their loan spells as both players are considered ‘locally trained’.

Spurs Web Opinion

It is clear that we need to bring in homegrown players in order to fulfil our criteria in the Champions League. I suspect the club will be looking to bring at least a couple of British players in this window. Max Aarons and Chris Smalling seem to be the most obvious targets at the moment as both could be decent additions to the squad without costing a considerable amount.

Related Topics