FIFA are set to clamp down on clubs buying in players just to loan them out to gain future profit.
Clubs like Chelsea have been doing it for years, Man City have been making use of it in recent years also – to Celtic’s benefit with loans for Patrick Roberts, Jason Denayer, John Guidetti and now Arzani.
The premise for these big clubs is to snap up all the best young talents, keep the very best and loan the others out again and again until they are eventually sold for profit. This helps to offset FIFA Financial Fairplay rules with the club making a profit on the deals.
With the big clubs monopolising all the best young talent, FIFA wants to step in and limit the number of players a club can loan out in one season.
The Guardian Reports:
“City have 28 players out on loan but, under Fifa proposals, that figure could be limited to between six and eight from the 2020-21 season – with only two players allowed to go to any one club. Such a move could deal a serious blow to City, since they often loan large numbers of players to clubs within their own City Football Group (CFG) stable.
“Like Chelsea, they have also become successful at recruiting the best young players from all over the world and then selling them on for a substantial profit after loan spells.”
This means Celtic are less likely to see a Patrick Roberts type star on-loan if these rules come into effect which sounds like the bhoys could be worse off.
However, this could work in Celtic’s favour. If the wealthier clubs have no real incentive to go out and snap up all the best young talent there would be opportunities for the club to try and sign these players on a permanent deal and sell on in the future.
Filip Benkovic’s deal is a perfect example of this. Celtic were interested in the Croatian for some time but did not have the funds to match his asking price because Zagreb knew wealthier clubs were hovering. The player went to Leicester in the end for over £12 million, but they had no plans to play him straight away and that’s why Celtic got the defender on-loan.
There could be a more realistic chance of signing a Benkovic in the future if there is not a clamour from Premier League clubs.
Of course, this is all subject to change and arguments will probably be heard by the bigger clubs in order to keep the status quo.
