The time is nearly here for clubs in England's top flight to send in their final post-summer squad lists for the 2024/25 season.
Premier League clubs need to submit their squad lists of up to 25 players (excluding those born on or after January 1 2003, who don't need to be registered), with anybody who is left off ineligible to play in the competition.
There may therefore be a handful of players around the league who find themselves left off their clubs' squad lists - here's what you need to know about the deadline, the rules, and when players can next be registered.
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When do Premier League clubs need to have their squad lists in by and who can be included?
Every Premier League club needs to send in its squad list before the competition resumes following the September international break. Or, if you want to say it like a normal person: by no later than Friday September 13.
Anyone born before January 1 2003 (the Premier League's definition of under-21s) needs to be included to be eligible to play in the Premier League; if you're not on the list, you're not getting in, mate, and definitely not in those trainers.
Of the 25 over-21 players, no more than 17 can be non-home grown - with 'home grown' defined as players who were registered to clubs in England or Wales for at least three seasons before the season in which they turned 21.
Can Premier League clubs still register free agents and release players after the deadline?
Free agents can be signed at any time, but can only be registered if there's space in the squad list. So if you've already got 25 players registered, sorry, those free agents will have to wait until the next registration window. Yes, that's January.
Same thing goes for releasing players: you can release them at any time, but whether or not they'll then be able to go and join another club immediately depends on the rules of the league concerned.
For the Premier League's purposes, players can't get released from one Premier League club outside a transfer window and then rock up at another one as a free agent and just start playing straight away; they'd have to wait for January too.
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