I was concerned of the numbers of not English/British footballers at the club who might arrive in the squad of 25 so I made three lists of players who might feature. I used the entire squad list from the club website which did not include Sean Murray or Diego Fabbrini, who are still Watford players. Footballers at Watford who qualify for homegrown are: 1. Troy Deeney 2. Lloyd Doyley 3. Rene Gilmartin 4. Craig Cathcart 5. Sean Murray (at Wigan Athletic on loan) 6. Ikechi Anya 7. Ben Watson 8. Connor Smith 9. Lloyd Dyer (will probably leave the club) Footballers who are homegrown and under 21: 1. Bernard Mensah 2. Jorrell Johnson 3. Tommie Hoban 4. Josh Doherty 5. Alex Jakubiak 6. Alfie Young 7. Mahlondo Martin 8. Dennon Lewis 9. George Byers This has 22 other players: Heurelho Gomes, Allan Nyom, Miguel Britos, Gabriele Angella, Sebastian Prödl, Joel Ekstrand, José Manuel Jurado, Valon Behrami, Matej Vydra, Fernando Forestieri, Juan Carlos Paredes, Diego Fabbini, Daniel Pudil, Miguel Layún, Steven Berghuis, Almen Abdi, Odion Ighalo. Jose Holebas, Essaid Belkalem, Etienne Capoue, Alesandro Diamante, Geidrius Arlauskis Looking at the lists Sean Murray, Lloyd Doyley and Lloyd Dyer probably will not be in the squad so we only have six homegrown footballers. The nine youngsters do not count if you look at the FA rules, so Tommie Hoban is in an odd place and from the not british Joel Ekstrand will not be in the list or Diego Fabbrini bring to 20. To add another homegrown qualifying player and losing three others will be difficult. From my position I do not see Essaid Belkalem in the final squad or Juan Carlos Paredes, down to 18. Then there is Nathan Ake who is wonderful for us. He is "homegrown" Almost to finish we must still lose one foreign footballer. The one real worry is Watford will continue to bring not British footballers to the club causing us to remove some very talented players who might be useful when a game needs to be changed quickly
I just posted this on the "transfer rumours' thread, so have reproduced here... "At present we have the following 'non home grown'. Gomes, Nyom, Britos, Angella, Prodl, Ekstrand, Jurado, Behrami, Vydra, Forestieri, Paredes, Pudil, Layun, Berghuis, Abdi, Ighalo, Holebas, Belkhalem, Capoue, Diamante, Arlauskis. That is 21 players, so if no more non home grown signings are made, 4 of these will not make our squad come 1st September. I would assume Belkhalem would be one, and Ekstrand, on the basis we can change the squad at the end of Jan and he will be out until just before then, will be another. That leaves two more that won't make it... I suspect they will come from Pudil, Forestieri, Paredes, Angella and Vydra by the looks of recent reports." There does not appear to be a number of home grown players you must have in the squad rule. If I understand it correctly you could name a 20 man squad with three home grown, plus as many under 21's you want, but the maximum squad size is 25 (plus the under 21's) and a maximum of 17 can be non home grown, so consequently a minimum of 8 must be home grown if the squad is 25.
.... suspect they will come from Pudil, Forestieri, Paredes, Angella and Vydra by the looks of recent reports." For me the two would have to be Pudil and Angella. I think we need to keep playmakers so we can switch our play mid-match etc. Also if one or two more come in then others will have to go.
After a LOT of confusion on my part, I think it is now as some above have commented. MAX squad = 25 players, Including a MAX of 17 foreigners Which means if you put in a squad of 25 players 8 must be home grown and over 21 years of age as under 21s don´t count So with 21 foreigners as mentioned above, bye bye Belkhalem, Ekstrand (for now as he is injured and can come back in during the window in Jan) that made the owners decision a bit easier with him out TBH, then it might well be Pudil and well one from Parades and FF for me, I´d go for the former.
Ak, you mentioned Doyley as one of the home grown players, even though he isn't under contract to the club. That isn't going to be resolved until he has recovered from injury.
The main worry would be anyone not in the squad kicking off. Slav delt with it quite well but can Flores?
It may be we are the other side of the coin this year - by that I mean that previously Granada & Udinese bought players then loaned or transfered them to us. Maybe this year as we have the money, players will be loaned back out in similar fashion - although not sure where some would go!
.... suspect they will come from Pudil, Forestieri, Paredes, Angella and Vydra by the looks of recent reports." I dont think we have seen the last of players coming in. I think the target is potentially for another two. of the above, Pudil looks to be more out of favour that the rest (shame). Of the rest I would be happy to lose Paredes. By way of a comparrison, I was unsure about Layun and Paredes when they arrived, but Layun has impressed me this season and suggested that he may have something about him at this level. Paredes still looks out of his depth. For me the problems are creativity and goals. Diamante does not look like the answer, but we must assume he will make the final cut. Looks like we have to assume that if these areas are addressed, they will be overseas players. Why does it all feel a bit crappy at the moment? shouldnt do, but it does
Well said Bloother. I don't think anyone would dispute the need for us to strengthen defensively but sacrificing the attacking potency is madness. Still, nice to know we and Manchester United fans feel the same about our teams for once
Personally, I really do not care. I have no interest in the England team and don't care about the FA at all. All I care about is Watford doing well - yes, it would be great to bring on our own youngsters, but in reality the vast majority will never be ready at this level and if there were, they will be sold.
Apparently the club wants to start bringing in foreign players into the U21 squad so that they can qualify as homegrown. I don't know what the regulations are for the Spanish and Italian leagues but if they are more lax than the EPL then we could become the nursery for all three Pozzo clubs. Having said that I seem to remember reading that the EPL is changing the regulations in the coming seasons requiring home grown players to be registered to English/Welsh teams at an even younger age. This will even restrict Scottish and Irish youngsters.
I would have thought the part about Scottish youngsters could be successfully challenged in an employment court as we are all "British citizens" and so have equal employment rights.
