At this time of year, there is always plenty of confusion and misinformation floating about with regards to Premier League Squad List Rules. The below hopefully clarifies the rules:
What are the rules?
1) Each Premier League squad must contain no more than 17 players who do not fulfil the "Home Grown Player" criteria.
2) The rest of the squad, up to a total of 25 players, must be "Home Grown".
3) Clubs can also register eligible Under-21 players above the squad limit of 25.
Does a club need to register 25 players?
No, they do not.
In theory, a club could register 0 players in its "A list", and have a squad filled with U21 players from their "B list".
Last season, Manchester City's A list contrained just 20 players. Arsenal's A list was just 22.
What is a Home Grown Player (HG)?
A "Home Grown Player" means 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).
What is a Non-Home Grown (NHG) Player?
Any player that does not fit either the HG criteria or U21 criteria is considered NHG.
What is the Home Grown quota?
The home grown quota does not actually exist.
Some wrongly believe that clubs "must register 8 players who are home grown", but this is not true. All they must do is register no more than 17 NHG players.
If a club has 17 NHG players and 4 HG, then they will have a A list of just 21 players.
Likewise, a club does not have to register 17 NHG players. This is the maximum they are allowed to register.
They could register 15 NHG and 10 HG to make the squad of 25.
Last season, Manchester City registered 13 NHG players and 7 HG players in their 20 man A list.
And what about U21s?
Any player that fulfills the U21 criteria does not need to be included in the A list.
Last season, Arsenal included Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli on the U21 list. This then free'd up two spaces on their A list (which they do not actually need to use). This year, both Saka and Martinelli will need to be included on the A list.
Normally, a club would register every player aged between 16 and 21 on their B list.
Unlike the A list, the U21 list can also be added to throughout the season.
What is the cut off date to be Under-21?
Under-21 players are eligible over and above the limit of 25 players per squad. For the 2023/24 campaign, Under-21 players will have been born on or after 1 January 2002.