A look at the impact the Brexit will have on the Premier League and Football Manager
If, like me, your Football Manager career evolves around snapping up young talent from across Europe and honing them into superstars, then I'm afraid today's political news could be about to change all that.
It was this morning announced that the United Kingdom is to leave the European Union, which could have a huge impact on professional football clubs in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Players within the EU are currently able to join British clubs without requiring a work permit - unlike players from South America, Africa, Asia - but now under these new rulings, this may no longer be the case.
This means players like Dimitri Payet and Anthony Martial, who have had a significant impact on the Premier League this season, would have required a work permit before signing for West Ham United and Manchester United respectively - and likely may have had them rejected.
So in the future, Premier League teams may be restricted from plucking emerging talent out of Europe. And, as it happens, you may also be prevented from doing so in your Football Manager careers.
The effect of this in real life could go two ways:
- Premier League clubs fall further behind the top clubs in Europe, who are still able to sign Europe's best talents
- English clubs finally begin to focus on young English talent, and England become the dominant force in world football. Unlikely...
But in terms of Football Manager, the fear is that playing as Premier League clubs becomes much less appealing. There's already a minimal pool of young English players on the game and those that do exist are massively overpriced and unobtainable, compared to their compatriots from the likes of France, Germany, Spain and further afield.
Snapping up the likes of Breel Embolo, Ruben Neves, Ante Coric, Martin Odegaard, Jesus Vallejo, Kristoffer Ajer will inevitably become more difficult as they struggle to get a British work permit due to their lack of international experience. And frankly, if you can't snap up these wonderkids, what's the point?
Therefore, playing future Football Manager titles as the likes of Valencia, Atletico Madrid, AC Milan and Roma, for example, may become a whole lot more fun and the Premier League could become a lot less interesting - and this, for me personally, would be a real shame.
Of course, the power English football clubs hold could mean they remain a law unto themselves because, as we know, money talks and these are some of the richest clubs in the world. So us Football Manager players may still be able to sign Europe's best in the same way we can snap up the best talent from Brazil and Argentina.
How much impact do you think the Brexit vote will have on the Premier League, your Football Manager experience, and European football in general?
