Sunderland’s recruitment across the summer was hugely impressive, as the scouting network spread its reach across European leagues to bring in a mix of young, promising, sought-after talent and much-needed top-level experience. But recruiting players from abroad brings its own complications. Premier League squad rules dictate that each team can only have a maximum of 17 non-home-grown players in their 25-man squad.
Players aged under 21 are not counted. The Premier League definition of a home-grown
player is:
“a player who, irrespective of nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to The Football Association or the Football Association of Wales 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).”
At present, of the current first-team squad, the following players are not under 21 and are non-home-grown:
Robin Roefs, Trai Hume, Omar Alderete, Reinildo Mandava, Arthur Masuaku, Lutsharel Geertruida, Nordi Mukiele, Leo Hjelde, Granit Xhaka, Enzo Le Fée, Bertrand Traoré, Simon Adingra, Brian Brobbey, and Wilson Isidor – a total of 14 of the 17 permitted.
Therefore, when the January transfer window opens, Kristjaan Speakman and Florent Ghisolfi will be facing a situation that the club has not previously encountered. The squad that achieved promotion from the Championship was packed full of home-grown players – only Hume, Hjelde, Jenson Seelt, Salis Abdul Samed, Isidor, and Le Fée did not meet the home-grown requirement.
With Samed’s loan expiring and Seelt being loaned out, there was plenty of headroom to raid the European leagues for imported talent. Those circumstances have changed considerably. Whatever recruitment takes place in January will have to be undertaken with one eye on the following season.
When the 2026/27 season kicks off, the likes of Chemsdine Talbi and Eliezer Mayenda will still fall into the under-21 category – but Habib Diarra will no longer be classified as an under-21, and Ahmed Abdullahi will also fall out of that bracket, assuming he regains fitness and continues to be included. That will take the number of non-homegrown players to 16. So, as things stand, there may be just one place free for a non-home-grown player for the 2026/27 season.
Of course, that may change – rumours of a departure for Arthur Masuaku persist so that would open up another spot, and Abdullahi may likely be loaned out to further his development. The only loan player who may potentially return to his parent club is Lutsharel Geertruida – but he has surely done enough already that Sunderland will want to exercise the loan-to-buy option in the agreement that brought him from RB Leipzig.
Last month Régis Le Bris disclosed that he only expects a couple of additions when the transfer window opens in January. Looking at the current squad composition, it is easy to see why. There is limited space, this season and next, for players who do not qualify as home-grown. Those who do qualify and who are of sufficient quality to improve what is already an exceptionally good squad are players who will attract premium transfer fees.
It remains to be seen whether Kyril Louis-Dreyfus is ready to pay “the English tax” in the coming transfer window. If he is not, it is an issue that will undoubtedly arise again in the summer.
