As all avid EPL fans probably know, new rules stipulating a minimum number of local players in each English Premier League club’s squad come into effect this season.

Given England’s dismal performance in the recent world cup, many would argue that these rules could not come a day earlier. Critics of the influx of foreign players into the EPL will argue that as the number of foreign players has steadily increased, the quality of local talent has steadily decreased as well.

This is not to say that Premier League clubs have now seen the error of their ways. If he expected to see clubs focus on developing a new stream of academy stars, such as those who came through the ranks at Old Trafford in the 1990s or those who came through Everton’s academies (including Wayne Rooney and, more recently, Jack Rodwell) and West Ham (including household names like Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Frank Lampard, to name a few); you may be disappointed.

Why? Because the new rules state that each of the 20 Premier League clubs must field a squad of up to 25 players. Each squad must include no more than 17 players who do not qualify as homegrown players. So the problem is the requirement to qualify as home grown.

To qualify as home under these less onerous Football Association rules, all that is needed is that a player, “irrespective of nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated with the Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three full seasons or 36 months before his 21st birthday.”

Okay, sorry, I’m sure like most fans you just thought that home grown meant Briton, or at the very least, someone who might one day be fit to play for England’s Three Lions! Ok, I’m sorry! Apparently the new rules make Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas a local player. Excellent!