So, the Premier League clubs have agreed new rules for next season stating that at least eight players in a squad of 25 be what is termed ‘home grown’. This means that on any given match day, managers will have to name eight players that have been registered for at least three seasons at an English or Welsh club between the ages of 16 and 21.

When I first heard the news that clubs had agreed to this, having had their arms severely twisted by UEFA and their president Michel Platini, I wondered what they had slipped in the likes of Arsene Wenger or Carlo Ancelotti’s sparkling waters that night. After all, it seems crazy to think that with all the foreign imports at Premier League clubs these days, how on earth are they going to agree – or conform – to that?

Just look at Liverpool’s current squad – 90 percent of Rafa Benitez’s team would not qualify under that criteria.

But before Fabio Capello, the FA or the British government might be thinking this will boost the development of English and Welsh players at the top level, the fine print has to be examined in a little more detail.

One of the main criticisms of Wenger’s tenure at Arsenal is that hardly any of the players he has bought or brought through to the first team, are ‘home grown’. That may well be true – he acquired Sol Campbell on a free transfer from Spurs and has been quick to pass along the likes of David Bentley and Francis Jeffers, while Theo Walcott’s starts have been limited since his arrival from Southampton.

However, Wenger has been clever in his recruitment from abroad at youth team level, meaning the likes of Carlos Vela et al have been here in England, registered with the club, long enough to fit the criteria for next season.

The danger now is that Premier League clubs will look abroad – to South America, Africa, Europe – even sooner than they may have done before, ensuring those youth players are living in their catchment areas within plenty of time before making the first team. This, in turn, means real home-grown English and Welsh schoolboys will be competing even earlier for fewer places at Premier League clubs, and therefore may slip through the net more so than they are doing now.

That isn’t to say that true market forces apply – maybe they will rise to the challenge, knuckle down and force their way into the top squads. It may give more importance to academies at lower league clubs and may prompt managers to promote from ‘within’ their own country more than they would otherwise have done.

But that is what they thought when the borders were opened up and restrictions on foreign players were lifted 20 or so years ago, hoping the likes of Cantana, Klinsmann, Bergkamp would inspire the youth of today to work harder and compete.

The other danger – and not just for English and Welsh clubs – is that the longer these youngsters from abroad spend here as youths, they will qualify to play for the national team itself.

For those who baulk at the thought of having a foreign manager in charge of the national team come next year’s World Cup, how would we feel with a team full of Brazilian Eduardo’s in the starting XI if England hosts the 2018 championships?

With the new rules in place, it could just be a very real possibility.