Jurgen Klopp has spoken out against Brexit once more in the wake of the Football Association's announcement of transfer ramifications in English football, indicating that the British government would have delivered heavier restrictions were it not for fierce resistance from clubs.
The sport’s governing body, alongside the Premier League and EFL, confirmed a raft of constraints for teams ahead of the January transfer window, the first to take place following the conclusion of the United Kingdom’s transition window to withdraw from the European Union on December 31.
As a result, English clubs will be unable to sign foreign players until they are 18, or more than three overseas players under the age of 21 in a single transfer window. Further rules include work permits for all transfers from EU nations, to be allocated on a points-based system.
Klopp, who has been fierce in his criticism of Brexit over the past few years, has blasted the decision to leave the EU again, and indicated that only negotiation from key figures at the top of the game managed to curb additional restrictions from the Home Office.
“[Liverpool sporting director] Michael Edwards was involved in a lot of these discussions and the clubs fought pretty hard for a solution – kind of a good solution or as good as possible,” the Guardian quotes the German as saying.
“Without the discussions it would have been worse. I am still waiting for the first advantage of Brexit that someone can tell me. What really improves after Brexit?
“It’s obviously not my thing to judge, but as an interested person I just wait until the first really positive impact of Brexit. Maybe I didn’t read it because I’m too much in football, but I don’t remember a lot, to be honest.”
Though the plan to restrict the arrival of young foreign players is designed to help bolster homegrown youth, Klopp further feels that English academy products are thriving because of partnerships with talents from across the EU, decrying the decision as a lost opportunity.
“People – the FA or whoever – want to make sure that the clubs don’t sign too many players from other countries because they are afraid that not enough English talents will make their way,” he added.
“But if you look at the English youth national teams at the moment they are in the top two or three – if not the top – in nearly all age groups; talent-wise they are 100%, and that is with the way we did it before.
“So let’s think about why that happened. They had a lot of players around them that played good football as well. It’s helpful. We cannot just create more talents because we deny other talents.
“But, as I say, it’s not my thing to judge. It’s just one of the smaller problems which we will all be aware of when Brexit is finally there.”
