With the new rules coming into effect for this Premiership season, Liverpool and each other Premier League side must name a squad of 25 players, including 8 “home-grown” players. Home-grown players are counted as any player of any nationality who has had at least 36 months training in England or Wales by the time he turns 21, or by the end of the season in which he turns 21.
With this in mind, it is worth taking a look at who qualifies for the Reds and to see how many more we would need to include to fill our quota.
First off, academy graduates Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, along with England internationals Joe Cole and Glen Johnson, add up to half the needed number. Add to that the expected signing of Middlesbrough goalkeeper Brad Jones who qualifies via the above mentioned 36 months training period and the Reds need to add 3 more home-grown players to the squad list.
Youngsters Nathan Eccleston, David Amoo, Martin Kelly and Jonjo Shelvey are all young enough to not need to be named in the squad list, as unlimited under-21 players can be added to supplement the named 25. The same goes for youngsters Dani Ayala, Dani Pacheco, Danny Wilson and Peter Gulacsi. However, as both Stephen Darby and Jay Spearing turn 22 within the next two months or so, both players would need to be registered if they were to partake in our Premiership campaign. Spearing’s 9 competitive appearances so far in a Liverpool shirt have given me the hope and belief that he can become a player good enough to be in the squad – I don’t for one minute think that he will take Mascherano’s place in the immediate future but the loan spell at Leicester will have done him the world of good and he can be a useful player to cover the likes of Lucas and Poulsen. This is a big season for Jay as he needs to make his mark by this age if he has serious intentions of being a regular for the Reds, otherwise this could be his last at L4.
The same can be said for full-back Darby, who with 6 appearances to date can provide valuable cover for Johnson on the right side, as well as filling in on the left if needed. In all honesty I don’t see Darby’s long term future at Anfield but I believe he could be included in the list this season as cover while we continue to add to the squad in other areas, meaning he would have to grab any opportunity he got in cup games to prove his point. At the moment Martin Kelly seems far ahead of him in the right-back race, so Darby will certainly have his work cut out for game time.
The final home-grown spot is a little trickier. Our options seem to be either to sign somebody, include an under-21 player…. or keep Emiliano Insua. Insua signed initially in January 2007, meaning he completed his 36 months earlier this year, around the same time he turned 21. Assuming that his initial loan spell at the club contributes towards the period of training required, Insua would now count for us as a home-grown player.
Moving onto the rest of the squad, it seems a pretty straight forward decision process:
Goalkeepers: Pepe Reina, Brad Jones (hg1)
Full Backs: Fabio Aurelio, Glen Johnson (hg2), Stephen Darby (hg3), Emiliano Insua (hg4)
Centre Backs: Jamie Carragher (hg5), Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel, Soto Kyrgiakos
Midfielders: Steven Gerrard (hg6), Christian Poulsen, Lucas Leiva, Javier Mascherano, Alberto Aquilani, Joe Cole (hg7), Jay Spearing (hg8)
Wingers: Dirk Kuyt, Ryan Babel, Maxi Rodriguez, Milan Jovanovic
Forwards: Fernando Torres, David Ngog
This gives us a total of 23 players. Presuming that one forward will be added in the coming days – my choice would be Ola Toivonen out of the ones being currently mentioned – we would have 1 space left, or 2 if Mascherano left. Speculation has been rife that a player such as Aleksander Hleb may be used in part exchange for Mascherano, in which case neither the available squad places or the home-grown contingent would be affected.
Diego Cavalieri, Damian Plessis, and Nabil El Zhar would be surplus to requirements on this list, and should be allowed to leave – preferably on permanent deals. Charles Itandje is of course not included and it is hoped he will also move on permanently.
With one remaining space, either another transfer could be used or, if finances do not allow it, what are the chances of turning to a seemingly forgotten forward? Krisztian Nemeth did not feature for the Reds’ first team in the pre-season friendlies or the Europa qualifiers. The Hungarian forward is another who, like Insua, completed his 36 months last season, the season in which he also turned 21. Therefore he should also count as a home-grown player by now. Long tipped for stardom, Nemeth played last summer in pre-season games for Liverpool, scoring twice, and was then loaned to AEK Athens where he was troubled by injury and scored only 3 goals. Another season on loan was mooted but nothing seems to have come off so far. I would be loathed to sell this player who looked a real talent, so hopefully a way to benefit the club can be reached, whether he stays or leaves on loan again. If Insua is sold and a non-home-grown player is brought in to replace him, Nemeth could complete our quota of 8 home-growns and I’m sure many staff who have worked at LFC over the past couple of years would be delighted to see him get a chance in the first team.
I believe the above squad, with the additions of Pacheco, Kelly, Wilson, Ayala, Shelvey and Gulacsi as third ‘keeper, would provide us with enough options and cover to challenge on all four fronts this term.
With days running out until the list needs to be finalised, it is reassuring to know we can put in the requisite number of home-grown players without weakening the squad or leaving out large numbers of seniors, as it seems one or two other clubs may have to do.
Follow us on twitter @live4Liverpool
Live4Liverpool is recruiting columnists. For further info contact the site editor at editor@live4liverpool.com
Good article, but Insua is not homegrown this year, you need to be 21 at the turn of the year, he was 21 in January.
“would provide us with enough options and cover to challenge on all four fronts this term.” – 25 man squad only counts towards the Premier League, not the F.A. cup, League Cup or Europa League…
mite b able to compeat on all four fronts but do you think that squad would win many trophys very difficult need another quality forward c cole or even p croutch we need another good left back bridge i would go for better than koncheski & if masc goes what we all think he will parker or wright-phillips or even both then we would have a better chance of picking up a trophy
Kelly not Darby
@Pete Insua is home grown – “or the end of the Season during which he turns 21” – meaning he turned 21 last season so he would have been home grown then too…
Lets not forget that Hodgeson’s also said this week he expects 2 or 3 in and 2 or 3 out?
1. good article very helpful.
2. toivonen looks good… on youtube. does anyone know how good he actually is?
3. insua may well leave to genoa.
4. do we really need all 8 home grown players? we have 4 or 5 decent players under 21 so that should give us a squad of close to 30.
cheers
Pretty spot on. Who is the third choice keeper? (He would have to be under 21).
Insua is HG this year so is Nemeth
NEMETH DOES NOT COUNT AS HOME GROWN AS YOU CAN NOT BE OUT ON LOAN IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, THE PLAYER MUST HAVE BEEN GETTING HIS TRAINING AND FOOTBALL EDUCATION IN ENLAND OR WHALES FOR 36 MONTHS BEFORE HIS 21ST BORTHDAY.EMILIANO INSUA I WILL HAVE TO CHECK I’M NOT 100% SURE ON HIS STATUS.
Insua will be leaving, also Kelly will be ahead of Darby who will more then likely be loaned out. We still need another striker and a leftback and if mascherano leaves we need another midfielder
Insua, Nemeth and Ngog are all U21 players.
Insua born: 7 January 1989
Nemeth born: 5 January 1989
Ngog born: 1 April 1989
Where is Pacheco??
@Pete, you do know that it’s 2010, don’t you? Do the math, I think you’ll find that all three of those players are 21 according to the DoB that you posted for each of them.
Neither Insúa or N’Gog needs to be listed in the 25-man Squad. Both of them will also count as homegrown next season. As would Németh if he’s not sold.
As of today there are 7 Homegrown players and 19 not homegrown players that were over the age of 21 at the start of the year. The 19 players include Cavalieri, Itandje, el Zhar, Plessis and Brouwer.
In addition we have 18 players under the age of 21 that has been given a squad number. That gives us a squad of 43 players.
@J Says, yes I know its 2010, My point is Insua turned 21 in january, so he counts as a U21, he doesnt need to be a home grown. You can be 21 and still be U-21 depending on when your birthday falls.
“A home-grown player will be defined as one who, irrespective of his nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to the Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons or 36 months prior to his 21st birthday (or the end of the Season during which he turns 21)”
So Nemeth and Insua turned 21 last season which was their 3rd entire season while registered to Liverpool – meaning they are both homegrown players.
Ngog won’t count as homegrown as he has only been with Liverpool for 2 years, this will be his 3rd season and he turned 21 last season (his 2nd season) so he won’t be homegrown.
People are getting carried away with this home grown rule, we don’t need to fill all 8 spaces if we don’t want too. Also as Pete says, Insua, Ngog and Nemeth all qualify as under 21.
Once we add a striker and left back I will be pretty happy. If possible a specialist winger would be good too.
They need 3 or 4 more decent players towards the bottom end it looks very weak no disrespect to the younger players coming through.
@Gym Blog we may not need to fill all 8 homegrown player spaces but if we don’t we will have a small senior squad. Of the 25, 8 must be homegrown. So we can name a smaller squad with e.g. 4 homegrown players BUT we can’t name the full 25 with only 4 homegrown. Players under 21 do not count towards the 25.
Your right, the site i was previously looking at for the rules had it wrong, they said it was 1st of Jan during the season (e.g. 1st Jan 2011) but i’ve found another site which says ‘1st Jan of the year which the season commences’, e.g. 1st Jan 2010 – so Insua, Nemeth and Ngog do all qualify as under 21 it will be next season they will be homegrown – except for Ngog as he turned 21 during his 2nd season (wasn’t registered to Liverpool for 36 months prior to his 21st birthday)