There seems to be a lot of unnecessary angst over the 25 man squad rule and the implications this may have for Avram. The rule should, in fact, actually help a club like ourselves.
First of all, we have a strong core of "Home Grown" players because of our production line of kids, and secondly, people are forgetting that U21s can play without being included in the 25.
So, let's pick our "Home Growns" first. That would include Green, Upson, Noble, Parker, Gabbidon, Cole, Dyer and Collison. That is 8 of our squad as a core, providing none of them are sold. To those we can add Stanislas, Nouble, Daprela, Sears, Spence and Stech who can all play without being included in the squad.
So we now have 14 players, only 8 of whom count in the squad. So, we still have 17 players left to pick. Let's see who is left:
Kurucz, Behrami, Boa-Morte, Da Costa, Diamanti, Faubert, Hines, Ilunga, Kovac, McCarthy, Spector, Tomkins, Barerra, Reid, Hitz, Piquionne, Ben Haim and Sulejmani.
Now the able amongst you will see that we have one player too many there! But Collison is ruled out until January and so can be left out of the original 25, with Hines or Tomkins taking his place as the "home grown" player. Come January, somebody will be surplus to requirements but I would be amazed if we don't see somebody leave before then anyway.
What this does show, however, is the importance of the home grown players. Sell more than 2 of those and you effectively lose places in the squad because then U21s have to be included in the 25, unless a Brit is bought to replace the departing player. That may explain our interest in Dorrans as the Parker replacement!
Looking at the list, you can see why the favourites to be sold must be from Behrami, Da Costa, Diamanti, Kovac and McCarthy, unless Avram has his eye on a Brit which, Dorrans apart, seems unlikely.
For Avram to add to the squad, players will have to be sold but, as things stand, the squad is exactly right!
Nice post, now I understand the rules :-)
ReplyDeleteSo be interesting who Avram ships out and if even he understands the rules himself!
So there are tactics in player transfers other than the obvious which encourages clubs to sign unders 21's and not include them in the 25 man squad, so they can replace "non-home grown" players if needed.
Is this really going to help youngsters develop?
Excellent deduction Sherlock...! Nice to see some proactive thought amongst the Football Fraternity. Wages are still an issues though, especially some of the "home grown" talent who are on top six money - step forward (if you can...) Mr Dyer. Parker won't go though. G+S would lose too much credibility, and Avram would have built a system around a strong midfield player, A la Chelsea and Portsmouth...
ReplyDeleteAs an airplane is about to crash, a female passenger jumps up frantically and announces, "If I'm going to die, I want to die feeling like a woman."
ReplyDeleteShe removes all her clothing and asks, "Is there someone on this plane who is man enough to make me feel like a woman?"
A man stands up, removes his shirt and says, "Here, iron this!".
Is Sulejmani at West Ham now?!
ReplyDeleteOne thing apparently missing from the Deportivo game was the left.
ReplyDeleteIllunga on his own was a liability!
That's the idea UKIT but the youngsters don't have to be British! Nor do the "home grown" players if you use an Arsenal policy of recruiting French kids by the dozen! I think the rule should change to specify the number of home grown players in the starting 11 personally, and allow additional subs on the bench if under 21.
ReplyDeletethe rul shud be u need at least 2 or 3 english u21s in ur lineup
ReplyDeleteUKIT:
ReplyDeleteSo it is good for the u21's as, aside from the 25 squad players, it's in the clubs interest to have a large number of u21's to cover injuries.
Not sure what benefit the home grown rule is though, so are the rules saying that home grown is ANY u21 that spent 3 years or more with ANY English club. If so all this is doing is encouraging clubs to buy players that plied their trade in the UK leagues. So I guess the knock is that players become less mobile and will stay in the leagues they were developed. Do we think this is Fifa's way of attempting to stem the flow of players chasing the money in the big leagues?