The government has praised as a “major breakthrough for the English game” plans by The Premier League to introduce minimum quotas of home-grown players as of next year.
The issue of the number of foreign players in the English top flight has been a topic of debate since the league’s inception in 1992, and discussions over the potential installation of restrictions on the number of overseas player – combined with guidelines on requirements for a minimum number of home-grown youngsters – have been at the fore of late.
After Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore announced on Tuesday that all 20 Premier League clubs had “agreed in principle” to introduce a quota scheme of home-grown players to begin for the 2010/11 season, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Andy Burnham expressed his delight at the development.
"The Premier League announcement on proposals for introducing a home-grown player quota is a major breakthrough for the English game," said Burnham.
"It shows the league is showing real leadership on some of the issues raised by Fifa and Uefa.
"I believe a quota would help the English national team and help cement a sense of local identity between supporters and their club.
"In the long run it could help bring a measure of competitive balance to the game at the top tier.
"The Premier League should be congratulated for taking this step and I believe such a move would help secure the health of the English game for years to come."
The plans outlined by Scudamore are expected to be finalised and confirmed at a meeting next month.
"Reflecting the need to encourage the development of local talent and to be confident that the future supply of England-qualified players is at least as good as now, our clubs have indicated in principle their support for a home-grown player quota to be applied to Premier League matches," revealed Scudamore.
"Measures under active consideration include: restrictions on foreign loans to bring them into line with regulations for domestic loans; the development of youth development financial incentives; constraints on the moves of under-18s; reforming the domestic compensation system and improvements to youth development and coaching."
Scudamore continued: "If there is a way of incentivising clubs to bring players in at 17, 18, 19 and keep them on as first-team players, we want to do that.
"If you have a toss-up over a home-grown player, we want the clubs to have an incentive to keep the home-grown player, where at the moment you can have the argument that it's cheaper to bring in a player from outside."