Greg Dyke, Chairman of the Football Association, is set to propose radical reforms with the hope of increasing the number of English players reaching the very top of the game – in a bid to more regularly replicate the immediate success of Tottenham’s star striker Harry Kane, reports the Daily Telegraph.
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Kane may have sprung up almost overnight at White Hart Lane, but his emergence had only come after four loan spells in the lower leagues – none of which were overly impressive – and Dyke believes that his rise proves that there is more talent waiting for an opportunity.
“Suddenly an English kid who was out on loan at four different places, who was touch and go to get a game in the first team, is suddenly the top scorer in English football,” Dyke said
“It’s great news. How many more Harry Kanes are there out there, who just can’t get a game?”
With the intention of repeating Kane’s success, Dyke has proposed that the way that squads are made up change – increasing the number of home-grown players to twelve from the eight it was before, and making the rules more difficult for a foreign player to qualify as home-grown.
Under the previous stipulations, a youngster would develop home-grown status if he had spent three years with a club before he turned 21, but Dyke suggests that the qualifying age be lowered to 18.
The FA Chairman explained that the new measures are based on achieving one thing.
“In the coach’s room at St George’s Park there is a countdown clock to when we win the World Cup in 2022. Unfortunately, it’s still down for the wrong date now they have changed it! It’s going to have to be altered, but it is counting down to the final in 2022.”