Despite the Premier League transfer window only opening on June 10, there has already been a whole host of movement from Premier League clubs, particularly Liverpool.
After wrapping up the signing of Fulham youngster Fabio Carvalho, the Reds then acted swiftly to sign Benfica forward Darwin Nunez for what could end up becoming a club-record fee.
Their business wasn't done there as Scotland under-21 international, and Aberdeen right-back, Calvin Ramsay followed the Uruguayan through the door over the weekend as he put pen to paper on a five-year deal.
It seems, barring a dramatic change in circumstances from selling clubs, Liverpool's incomings for the upcoming 2022/23 season have concluded following the addition of Ramsay, with Jurgen Klopp's side getting their pre-season preparations underway on July 4.
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But how will the additions of Nunez, Ramsay and Carvalho affect Liverpool's Premier League squad?
The ECHO takes a look into what impact recent additions, and outgoings, will have on the Reds' squad ahead of the upcoming season as they are forced to meet a handful of rules.
The rules
Clubs playing in the Premier League are allowed to register a maximum of 25 players for the first half of the campaign. However, under the current rules, the 25-man squad can only consist of a maximum number of 17 non-homegrown players, which means - if clubs wish to fill all the available spaces in their squad - at least eight of the places must be filled by homegrown players.
As is the case ahead of every Premier League season, players who are 21 or under - born on or after January 1 2001, for this campaign - do not need to be registered as a part of the squad. This is to entice clubs to dip into their academy pool over the course of the season and increase the likelihood of youngsters gaining first-team opportunities.
Liverpool utilised this feature at times last season, as both Kaide Gordon and Tyler Morton were included in Klopp's first-team squad for the visits to Tottenham and the home game against Brentford.
What is a homegrown player?
A homegrown player, in the words of the Premier League, is:
"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)."
Put simply, a player who has played three seasons of senior or academy football in England before they have turned 21.
What does this mean for Liverpool's summer business?
The last time Premier League clubs had to register their squad with the association, which came at the start of February, Liverpool could only enlist a 24-man squad. This was because the club reached the limitation on the number of non-homegrown players they could register, 17, and only had seven homegrown players on their books.
Those homegrown players were; Joe Gomez, Jordan Henderson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Caoimhin Kelleher, James Milner and Nat Phillips.
However, with Liverpool already confirming Divock Origi will depart the club upon the expiration of his contract on July 1, in addition to the expected departures of Sadio Mane and Takumi Minamino in the coming days, Klopp will have a few spaces in his squad to play with ahead of the transfer deadline on September 1.
That is because the departure of the aforementioned trio will take Liverpool's non-homegrown number down from 17 to 14, with Nunez taking that number back up to 15.
And, regardless of representing Portugal's under-21 side at international level, Carvalho will not take up one of the 17 places on the Reds' non-homegrown quota because he is 19, meaning he will be categorised with the other under-21 players at the club. Yet, to Liverpool's advantage, when he turns 21 he will be classed as a homegrown player as a result of spending three seasons with clubs affiliated to The Football Association (Fulham and Liverpool) during his career so far.
Ramsay will also find himself not on Liverpool's non-homegrown log this season because he is still 18 years old. However, as a result of turning 21 in the summer of 2024, the Scotsman will only have spent two seasons in English football before his 21st birthday which means, like Andy Robertson, from the 2024/25 season onwards he will take up one of the non-homegrown slots.
Additionally, if Liverpool were to pursue a long-standing interest and sign Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham this summer he would still count as a homegrown player, despite spending the majority of his senior career to date in the Bundesliga, because of the ten years he spent at Birmingham City prior to his move to Germany.
However, the ECHO understands that any move for the England international will most likely come next year, although the Reds recruitment team will be on alert should there be a change of circumstance.
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