All you need to know about the five rules impacting Man United’s summer transfer business

Need to know

Manchester United want to spend big this summer but they will be impacted by rules out of their control

Everything you need to know about the rules impacting Manchester United’s summer transfer business:

1. United are looking to be busy in this summer’s transfer window. The Reds need to bolster their squad if they are to compete across four competitions.
2. However, Michael Carrick won’t be able to spend freely in the summer transfer window without first abiding by five rules out of United’s control.
3. First surrounds Brexit. United can only sign players from the European Union once they have obtained a Governing Body Endorsement (GBE).
4. These are obtained based on three criteria: Senior and youth international appearances, quality of the selling club, based on the league they are in, league position and progression in continental competition and club appearances, based on domestic league and continental competition minutes.
5. Brexit also limits the number of overseas U21 players a club can purchase in a single season and blocks academy players from joining United until they turn 18.
6. Next is Home Grown player quotas. Both the Premier League and UEFA have different rules that clubs must abide by.
7. In the Premier League, ‘Home Grown’ players are those who, irrespective of nationality or age, have been registered with any club affiliated to The Football Association (FA) or the Football Association of Wales (FAW) for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons, or 36 months, before his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21).
8. Meanwhile, in the UEFA Champions League, clubs must submit a List A and List B. List A can have no more than 25 players. Eight of these places are reserved for ‘locally trained players’. No more than four of those eight players can be ‘association trained players’. List B can be made up of an unlimited number of players so long as they were born on or after January 1, 2005 and have been eligible to play for the club for a two-year uninterupted period since they were 15. Or, three years, if one of those years was spent on loan at a club in the same association.
9. Next season, the Premier League will scrap Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) in favour of the Squad Cost Ratio (SCR) framework. SCR means Premier League clubs’ on-pitch spending is limited to 85 per cent of their football-related revenue and net profit/loss from player sales. Squad costs cover player and head coach wages, agents’ fees and amortisation or impairment of transfer fees.
10. UEFA also employs SCR but their spending cap is limited to 70 per cent. They also measure their finances by the calendar year while the Premier League will operate season-to-season.
11. You can read the full story here.