04 Aug 2021 08:30:31
Dominic King reporting that Sheffield Utd, Celtic and Bournemouth are all interested in Ben Davies. LFC have turned down a loan offer from SHU.

Is the plan still to keep him or is he for sale?


1.) 04 Aug 2021
04 Aug 2021 08:45:13
If he comes under the HG quota then I expect him to stay. much will depend on how much we could raise from sales.


2.) 04 Aug 2021
04 Aug 2021 10:39:18
Folks here really need to understand what the HG rules mean.

It is not a requirement to have x number of HG players. If you have fewer HG players than the quota then it just means your squad is smaller. HOWEVER, you can use as many U21s as you want.

The current Premier League rules are that you can have a maximum of 17 non-HG players in your squad. Therefore, to have a full squad of 25, you need 8 HG players. However, you don't HAVE to have 8 HG players, you just end up with a smaller squad (like we have done at least last season if not the year before, the same as a few other teams too) .

Looking at the HG players who are going to be part of our squad based on merit:

Milner
Henderson
Trent
Robbo
Kelleher (I think he counts as HG? )
Gomez

That's 6, which means our squad of senior players can be 23.

On top of that we still have Phillips, and the Ox, but I can't see a problem if either or both are sold. My gut feel is we will sell Phillips and keep the Ox as I still rate him, if only he could stay fit!

Players such as Neco Williams, Rhys Williams, Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliot, Clarkson etc are all classed as U21 so they can automatically be a part of our EPL and CL squads (as long as we register them) and we can have as many U21s as we register.

So, we do not need to stress about HG quotas. They are not a mandatory requirement to have x number of HG players, rather a squad restriction on Non-HG players being a maximum of 17. And a number of players who are around our first team - the most advanced (in terms of likely game time) being Curtis Jones - are U21 so are eligible anyway.

Personally, I'd quite like to try out Doku. He would be classed as U21 so has no impact on the 17 squad places for non-HG and seems to have great potential.

{Ed002's Note - You need to consider the club developed players as well.}


3.) 04 Aug 2021
04 Aug 2021 10:51:20
Thanks Ed002, was going to mention CD players as well, but thought I'd try to get the HG rules tied down!

Are the Club Developed players only relevant for CL squads rather than EPL squads, or is the EPL likely to introduce a CD requirement too?

{Ed002's Note - At the moment CL only but the number of HG players will increase for the PL and their will be club developed requirements as well.}


4.) 04 Aug 2021
04 Aug 2021 10:59:25
I didn't think Robbo was classed as HG, Zeddicus?

{Ed002's Note - He isn't.}


5.) 04 Aug 2021
04 Aug 2021 11:01:27
What’s huge club developed player quota Ed002? Forgive my ignorance I can’t find anything online about this. Is this something coming into play soon? Thanks.

{Ed002's Note - It already exists for the Champions League which is why Liverpool had a small than 25 man senior squad last season. It is coming for the Premier League.}


6.) 04 Aug 2021
04 Aug 2021 11:02:38
Doku would need to be registered as one of the 17 non-HGs in the Champions League squad. The CL has an additional restriction that an U21 player needs to be at the club for 2 years or more to go on the unlimited size B list for U21s.

He'd be a "freebie" for the PL because they don't have that requirement.


7.) 04 Aug 2021
04 Aug 2021 11:05:10
Does Robbo count as HG? Is it English fa?

{Ed002's Note - No.}


8.) 04 Aug 2021
04 Aug 2021 11:06:27
Also Robbo's not Home Grown for an English club. He was in Scotland for the relevant years and the UK is not all counted as one entity for the purposes of HG players.


9.) 04 Aug 2021
04 Aug 2021 11:28:04
Do EU players who have acquired the right of permanent residence (or been granted the equivalent settled status following Brexit) in the UK if they’ve lived in England for five years count HG, Ed002?

{Ed002's Note - The HG rules are simple - where they are born is of no relevance.}


10.) 04 Aug 2021
04 Aug 2021 11:41:52
Ah sorry folks, got it wrong with Robbo, good shout on Doku too, SR. I have a sneaking suspicion that one of the players we will sign (towards the end of the window no doubt as we need to make some sales first) will be an U21, at least for the EPL.

Doku and Pedri are the ones we have been linked to in recent weeks. Pedri may just be too expensive, but he would be an amazing acquisition who (I think, maybe Ed002 can confirm? ) could qualify as Club Trained if he joined this summer?

{Ed002's Note - Pedri won't be moving to Liverpool. Another club made a very significant offer (way more than Liverpool could afford) and it was rejected as he is not for sale.}


11.) 04 Aug 2021
04 Aug 2021 11:44:31
Thanks for clarifying the club developed rule Ed02.


12.) 04 Aug 2021
04 Aug 2021 11:51:48
Eds Is the Home Grown rule being considered a success within the football industry?

As a fan looking from the outside it seems at least in England it just leads to inflated fees as no doubt Grealish and Sancho are great players but a combined cost of £170m for two players that are not guaranteed to start in the national team first 11.

{Ed002's Note - Yes and it is being expanded.}


13.) 04 Aug 2021
04 Aug 2021 14:02:48
Zed- You’re right, if he’s not going to play it’s pretty irrelevant that he’s home grown.


14.) 04 Aug 2021
04 Aug 2021 16:05:51
Our problem is not with the lack of home-grown players, it is having too many non-home-grown bit-part players. We currently have the maximum number of non-home-grown players that can be registered in our first-team squad. As a result, IF (big if) we were to buy anybody (e. g. Saul or Bissouma) who happens to not be a home-grown player we would be in the position of having to remove another non-home-grown player from the registered squad (e. g. Shaq, Origi or Minimino) and we would be paying players wages who we can not even register for competitions.

{Ed0666's Note - stop fretting about this HG quota malarkey people. I’m my opinion Shaq, taki and divvy will be gone either loaned or sold by the end of this transfer window. Problem solved.


15.) 04 Aug 2021
04 Aug 2021 20:51:25
Great original post Zed (and ed002 for the extra detail) this helps dispel the panic about HG quotas. Things will obviously change in the future, but at the moment this doesn’t seem to be a massive problem. We obviously need to sell to bring in none HG players, but I think the club would be selling before they buy anyway irrelevant of HG quotas. The CL ‘home grown’ quotas are obviously relevant as well, but in the main the first choice players would be playing in the CL anyway, unless the game’s a ‘dead rubber’ in which case a fair few if the U21’s would probably be playing anyway. Something that definitely will be addressed going forwards I’m sure, but at the moment I can’t see why the club would be panicking about the situation.