Open season

I love the guys at AVFC Blog, but I feel I need to respond to Damian's post about the state of English soccer and the changes he believes should be made. Allow me to address his major concern (in italics).

We shouldn't have any more than four foreign players allowed on the field...

I've compiled a list of foreign players, including those in and out on loans. The full spreadsheet can be found here. By my (or Wikipedia's) count, the Premier League is home to more than 400 foreign players. I included anyone from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well since Damian's point is to improve the English product. While Damian is correct to point out the percentage of foreigners is higher in the Premier League than in any other major European league (and most others, I imagine), the problem is obviously not with English players not getting enough time together. According to Wikipedia's current roster of the Brazilian national team, only one, Kleber, plays for a club in his home country. Below are the totals from every other team currently ranked ahead of England in the FIFA World Rankings (England is 12th):

Argentina: 5 (6 if you count Riquelme - on loan to Boca Juniors)
Italy: 19 (with the vast majority of other call-ups also from Italy)
Germany: 22 (but somehow Michael Ballack isn't listed...hmm...)
France: 11
Spain: 18
Czech Republic: 7
Portugal: 10
Netherlands: 12
Croatia: 6
Greece: 18

England's total is, well, everyone but Beckham, including call-ups. In fact, England has the largest percentage of (major country) national team players playing on native soil while the average for the top 11 nations is roughly half.

The reason is simple: economics. The top countries with the fewest number of players playing at home - Brazil, Argentina, Czech Republic and Croatia - cannot afford to keep them in domestic leagues.

If England restricted the number of foreign-born players on the pitch at any one time, thus restricting the number of foreign-born players a team could realistically keep, these foreign-born players would be forced to look elsewhere for teams, which would artificially increase the supply of talent and depress players' wages in other countries while artificially inflating English players' salaries. The salaries would increase, but with an artifically higher demand, the extra players have to come from somewhere. Players in Championship will have to come up to the Premier League, creating a ripple affect on the rest of the leagues. As a result the quality of the Premier League will fall and the national team players might look abroad for better competition and to keep their skills sharp. This will further deteriorate the quality of the league. Combined with fewer foreign-born players, the FA will have fewer advertising opportunities for the FA Cup, which would mean the national team would have less money for training grounds and other amenities.

The players on the English national team will likely be the same players no matter how many foreigners are allowed on the pitch. By the time players are ready for the Premier League their skills are well known; I doubt any diamonds in the rough will be uncovered. When the goal is to win an open competition, restricting competition beforehand is never the answer.

Update: FIFA president Sepp Blatter is now calling for a quota system, but oddly enough, he only mentions the Premier League. Maybe he has a stake in La Liga or the Bundesliga?