The Premier League’s chief executive, Richard Masters, believes the visa system introduced by the Football Association after Brexit contributed to the record £815m spent by Premier League clubs during the January transfer window and has called for it to be tweaked.
Brexit prevents English clubs from signing foreign players until they are 18 and led to a points-based government body endorsement (GBE) system from 1 January 2021. Masters acknowledged that GBE was introduced in an attempt to increase the number of England-qualified players in the Premier League and said that leaving the EU meant clubs had been forced to pay a premium to sign the best emerging stars.