As we wait patiently for Txiki Begiristain to deliver some ‘crack’ players, all we’ve seen is homegrown players leaving the club. Lampard, Milner, Richards, Guidetti and Boyata have all gone, leaving Joe Hart, Gael Clichy and Richard Wright in our squad as our homegrown representatives. Who can fill the gap?
Homegrown rules
Before discussing our potential incoming signings, let’s first look at the homegrown rules.
Homegrown rules differ for Champions League and Premier League squads. Both squad rules have a 25 man A squad and an unlimited B squad. Lets see how the rules differ.
Champions League squad rules
A Squad – a maximum 25 man squad with 4 spaces reserved for club trained homegrown players and 4 spaces for association trained homegrown players.
B Squad – Must be born after 1st Jan 1994 and have spent at least two full continuous seasons at the club.
Premier League squad Rules
A squad – a maximum 25 man squad with 8 spaces for club trained or association trained homegrown players.
B Squad – Must be born after 1st Jan 1994
Definitions of Homegrown
Both UEFA and the Premier League use the same definitions:
Club trained – a player who has spent 3 full seasons OR 36 months with the club between the ages of 15 and 21.
Association trained – as club trained but with clubs affiliated with the same association (in City’s case teams under the English FA)
So which of Pogba, De Bruyne, Sterling and Iheanacho are homegrown?
Is Kevin De Bruyne homegrown?
Lets get the easy one out of the way, De Bruyne joined Wolfsburg from Chelsea where he had played 3 games under Jose Mourinho. However De Bruyne joined Wolfsburg on 18 January 2014 having joined Chelsea on 31 January 2012. So he was only at Chelsea for 23 months. Therefore he cannot be in City’s A squad as an association-trained player.
De Bruyne was born in 1991 so he also cannot be in the B squad under Champions League and Premier League rules. So De Bruyne is never going to be homegrown for Manchester City.
Paul Pogba – is he homegrown?
So can we rely on Manchester United to help us out? What do you think?
Pogba officially joined United on the 7th October 2009 after a disputed move surrounded by tapping up allegations. He left to join Juventus on 3rd July 2012 aged 21. So a total of 33 months.
If City or any other FA club had signed him directly from United then Pogba would now be an association-trained player.
But we didn’t and now he’s not homegrown. Oh and he’s too old to be in the B squad.
England International Raheem Sterling – a definite homegrown, right?
Sterling was born on Dec 8th 1994 meeting that criteria for the B squad, so for the Premier League he doesn’t have to be included in the squad at all and from next season he would be homegrown.
However for the Champions League B squad the player has to have been at City for 2 years meaning he has to be in City’s Champions League A squad as an association trained player.
Kelechi Iheanacho is in our EDS – must be homegrown?
Iheanacho was born in 1996 so like Sterling doesn’t have to be in the Premier League A squad. Iheanacho’s that young he won’t have to be in it for the next 3 seasons. However when it comes to the Champions League, Iheanacho hasn’t been at the club 2 years so he can’t be in the Champions League B squad.
For the Champions League, Iheanacho would have to be counted as a non-homegrown player, as he’s not been at the club or any association clubs for 3 seasons or 36 months. So in the Champions League we have the situation where Iheanacho for the next 3 seasons is a non-homegrown player but after that he would then be a club trained homegrown player. Crazy stuff.
So what does it mean?
We’ll go into this season’s Champions League with Joe Hart, Gael Clichy and Sterling (if we buy him) as our association-trained home grown players (Richard Wright wasn’t in last season’s squad).
Pogba, De Bruyne and Iheanacho would all have to be in our 17 of none homegrown players ,although I suspect Iheanacho would not be in at all.
It means we have space for one more association-trained homegrown player in our Champions League squad and four empty spaces in the club homegrown section. All the younger players at the club still fall into the B category including Marcos Lopes, Karim Rekik and Jason Denayer. So there are four places where we could re-sign a player who came through through our ranks.
Expect City to solve the homegrown issues this summer and bring in some high-quality players, as Chairman Khaldoon al Mubarak promised.
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