Brexit: What does it mean to the Premier League?

PREMIER LEAGUE chiefs urged fans to oppose the Leave campaign in the Euro referendum. But the country has spoken and Britain is on course to pull out of the EU within two years.

SunSport’s MARTIN LIPTON assesses what it actually means for football.

WHAT’S THE IMPACT NEXT SEASON?

Initially, not much. Player contracts are legal documents and in any event the UK will not leave Europe until at least 2018.

Each club still has the new guaranteed minimum of £100million in TV income for next season.

But transfer targets have suddenly shot up in asking price as the pound plummeted against the euro.

On Friday, the €32.2m release clause to land Sevilla’s Poland schemer Grzegorz Krychowiak would have set Prem buyers back £1.5m more than on Thursday evening.

Simon Chadwick, professor of sports enterprise at the University of Salford, said: “If the pound continues to fall then foreign talent will become more expensive, so that could have a huge knock-on effect in the summer transfer window.”

And with foreign players frequently wanting their wages based on euro round numbers, a £200,000-per-week contract at the start of the week will now cost an extra £645k a season.

BUT NO REAL CHANGES?

FA bosses toughened up the rules for non-EU players to get work permits last summer.

But post-Brexit the new regulations would theoretically apply to players within the EU. The Bosman Rule no longer stands.

Dimitri Payet, N’Golo Kante, David De Gea, Anthony Martial and Cesar Azpilicueta are among an estimated 332 Europeans in the Prem last season who would not have qualified automatically for work permits now.

It is thought unlikely that the Home Office would refuse to renew permits for players already here.

Privately, the league hopes that post-Brexit the UK will still be part of the European Economic Area with players having freedom of movement and the country could adopt the Swiss policy of effectively abandoning permit controls for footballers.

THEY DON’T MEAN IT, DO THEY?

The great imponderable but theoretically it could affect South American stars who have used the ‘grandparent rule’ to come to Europe on Spanish, Portuguese or Italian passports.

Now, that will not make any difference and unless the player is a regular international or wins an appeal he will not automatically be given a permit.

FEWER MERCENARIES, THEN?

Possibly but the league would point out that the Prem brought in a staggering £2.4BILLION to Treasury funds last year through tax.

The players coming in are world-class talents, not blue-collar workers.

STILL, GOOD NEWS FOR BRITS?

Yes, it seems. If clubs are prevented from signing as many foreigners they will have to start developing their own more seriously.

But Republic of Ireland and, potentially — with a second independence vote being mooted — Scottish players would be classed as foreigners.

And the downside would see an “English premium”, with transfer prices for home-grown players soaring.

THAT’S OK, THE CLUBS ARE STILL FLUSH WITH CASH, AREN’T THEY?

For now but even Prem chiefs do not expect the exponential increase in TV revenues — a 70 per cent rise to £8.3bn over three years from next season — to be replicated next time.