West Ham United will try to sign British players in 2024 due to Premier League rule
West Ham are set to be forced to sign British players in the upcoming transfer windows to accommodate Premier League rules, report Claret&Hugh.
Writing on their website (4 November), the news outlet report that the club face an issue with the league’s homegrown rules heading into 2024 as they don’t have enough options that meet the criteria.
Currently James Ward-Prowse and Jarrod Bowen are the only first-team regulars who fit in while Danny Ings, Aaron Cresswell and Ben Johnson are heading towards the exit door which means the club will need to invest heavily in British talent.
“English Premier league teams must have at least eight “homegrown” players on their squad. In addition, they may include up to 17 “non-homegrown” players up to a maximum of 25 players on the squad,” they wrote.
“The other “homegrown” players include academy prospects Dan Chesters, Divin Mubama, George Earthey and Lewis Orford – none of whom seem likely to make the first team next season.
“Claret and Hugh’s main insider at the club told us this morning (Sat): ‘We have to buy some British players next season as we’ll be so short of home grown guys.'”
Expensive
It’s going to be a very expensive next few transfer windows seemingly, because we all know there is a big premium placed on British players in the transfer market right now.
The homegrown rules are a big reason for that, but also because of the fact that Premier League clubs have so much money and they can set their prices as high as they want – like West Ham did with Declan Rice.
It means the club will need to be smart with their additions, and it would explain why they’re looking at some potential targets like Lloyd Kelly at Bournemouth on a potential free transfer.
The coming windows will need to see some sensible planning to ensure we meet the requirements, or some of the youngsters in the squad to step up their performances to show they can step into the first-team and make a spot their own instead.
It will be interesting to see how it plays out in the coming weeks and months, but it’s certainly something to pay attention to.
In other West Ham news, Fabrizio Romano drops major transfer update ahead of 2024 windows.