Premier League hopes new rules will have immediate effect

Owen Hargreaves and Jonathan Woodgate look like being the early casualties of the new Premier League squad rules which are due to take effect this season. Both England internationals have suffered from chronic injury problems, and their managers (Sir Alex Ferguson and Harry Redknapp respectively) have deemed them too big a risk to include in their 25 man squad. That means neither of them will be able to play any first team football until January at the earliest. That is because, under the new regulations, each Premier League team has to name their 25 man squad by September 1, in much the same vein as European competition demands.
In that light, it is understandable why managers are reluctant to include injury prone players in their squads, as they can only supplement their squad with players under the age of 21. I suppose the aim of this is to encourage managers to give more chances to young players, and the timing of this could not be more apt in light of England's dismal World Cup performance with an ageing squad.
Let's pick through the bones of these new regulations, because they are not as straightforward as they originally seem. For a start, the regulations only apply to the Premier League, not to the domestic cup competitions. As well as having a limit of players who can be named in the squads, at least eight of the players have to be 'homegrown.' The purpose of this is to aid the performance of the national team, but whether it has this effect will be open to debate. This is because, when the rules state 'homegrown', that doesn't necessarily mean English.
The Premier League defines homegrown players as those who are 'irrespective of nationality or age, have been affiliated to the English or Welsh FA for a period of three seasons or 36 months prior to their 21st birthday.' Quite how Cesc Fabregas (who would qualify as homegrown) is going to benefit the national team is another issue, and technically this means Owen Hargreaves is not homegrown, as he learnt his football education at Bayern Munich and only moved to Manchester United at the age of 26. This could well see clubs continue the trend of poaching top foreign talent from all over the world, because as long as they are snapped up before they are 18, they will qualify as homegrown under the current regulations as long as there are no changes. This clearly won't help the English games, nor will the big clubs simply buying already established players for large sums of money (such as James Milner's transfer to Manchester City which seems to be on the verge of going through).
The summer transfer business at cash-strapped Liverpool (well cash-strapped before any potential takeover) is a case in point of the new regulations taking effect. Besides Serbian Milan Jovanovic on a free transfer, Joe Cole also arrived on a Bosman to increase the number of homegrown players, as do the signings of young British players Jonjo Shelvey (from Charlton Athletic) and Danny Wilson (from Rangers).
As always there are some exceptions - for example, if a club has two or three injured goalkeepers they may be permitted to bring in a replacement, and players who go out on loan to a Football League club can't be replaced, but they can reclaim their place on their return. But generally, the regulations are quite strict. If a team doesn't have eight homegrown players, they don't have to name them eight homegrown players in their squad, but they will have to operate with a reduced squad. Similarly, if a team doesn't have 25 contracted players, they don't have to submit a squad of 25 players, and can add free transfers throughout the season until they get to a squad of 25 players. But if they have 25 contracted players, they have to name them in their squad. It was clear something had to be done to protect the integrity of English football, and this is the first remedy. There is already an element of looking to the future in the England national team set-up.
Fabio Capello's first England squad since the disappointment of the World Cup showed a marked difference from his last England squad, just before the debacle in South Africa. The mood surrounding the announcement of this squad was met with far more scepticism than his previous effort. Capello seemed untouchable - despite breaking promises about not taking injured players (Gareth Barry and Ledley King), taking a player who hadn't played a minute for England since the previous World Cup (Jamie Carragher), exciting young players left out (Adam Johnson and Theo Walcott) while leaving out in-form players (Scott Parker and Michael Dawson) in place of those out of form (Matthew Upson). Despite all this, he seemed to have the Midas touch. Until the action got underway in South Africa.
For most observers, this squad came a couple of weeks too late, but thankfully and finally, there seemed to be a genuine shift towards youth, and hopefully with the new rules, there will be more young English players coming through and making an impact in the Premier League.
The goalkeeping battle seems to be a straight battle between Ben Foster and Joe Hart, with youth winning out over experience. Gary Cahill, Phil Jagielka and Kieran Gibbs add a touch of freshness to a defence was proven to be pedestrian by Germany in South Africa. Johnson and Walcott are included after unluckily failing to make the final squad. Ashley Young should add some pace to the squad, but the biggest wildcard is probably 18-year-old Arsenal playmaker Jack Wilshere, who seems to have a big future ahead of him. In attack, Darren Bent gets the chance he was unlucky to not get at the World Cup, while there is finally a call up for Bobby Zamora, at the age of 29 - the Fulham striker would surely have been going to South Africa were it not for injury. If you remember my blog in the aftermath of the thrashing by Germany, of the team I predicted will hopefully be lining up in 2014 in Brazil, seven are included for the squad to face Hungary on Wednesday. And of the traditional spine of the side - John Terry, Rio Ferdinand (when fit), Ashley Cole, Gareth Barry, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney - surely only the latter will be present in Brazil due to age. So the majority of the casualties were to be expected, and the real stars remain (despite some, notably Terry and Barry) being shockingly bad in the defeat to Germany. There is a sense of evolution, and this may eventually turn into revolution, with the likes of Jack Rodwell, Lee Cattermole, Ryan Shawcross, Dan Gosling and possibly Newcastle United striker Andy Carroll, should he make the step up to the Premier League.
Time remains to be seen whether these players are good enough at international level, but they are the future of football in this country, so have to be given a chance. It is certainly a step in the right direction, and Mr Capello and his successors will be hoping the new regulations are another step along the right path.