Controversial Match of The Day presenter Gary Lineker has now suggested that Brexit could have a positive impact on England’s youth footballers because ending free movement means it will be tougher for foreign players to get visa’s.
One of the main areas which could be affected is immigration, with EU residents likely to need a visa to visit, live and work in the UK.
This could pose a problem for the number of foreign players already playing in the Premier League and other divisions.
However Lineker feels there may be some benefit. He elaborated in an interview with the magazine JOE:
“If we do [leave], freedom of movement would be altered I would imagine, so footballers from Europe will then need visas to work here.”
“Whereas obviously you could just buy anyone from Europe [before Brexit]. So that could affect things.
“The only positive thing I think might come out of Brexit is that our young players might get more opportunities to play, because it’s not going to be as easy just to sign young kids from Europe.
“They’ll probably need the same criteria as international players from outside the EU.”
Many of our talented English youngsters are currently finding it difficult to break into their club’s regular starting XI due to a number of overseas stars ahead of them.
That could well change if Brexit has an affect on the law on the number and criteria of EU nationals that are allowed to inhabit the UK.
Technical director for the FA, Les Reed, believes Lineker could be right about the chances improving for young English players once Brexit has been accomplished.
“It could be very positive. There’s a lot of theorising going on about what might happen. We’ve had fairly productive talks but we can’t do anything concrete until we actually know what the law is going to look like.”
Unity News Network (UNN) Staff Writer | To find out more details about our staff, please head to the About Us section on our website.
