Rafa fears Premier League could suffer

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has revealed his concerns regarding the new home-grown players quota system that will come into effect in English football next season.

The new regulations will mean that at least eight players in every 25-man squad for league games will have to be home-grown (meaning at least three years of experience in England by the age of 21).

Although unlikely to affect Liverpool directly too much as they already have to adhere to similar regulations for the Champions League, Benitez says he is worried it could effect the quality of football in the Premier League.

He said, “Maybe it has been brought in too soon. In the Champions League we had two or three years to increase the numbers of ome-grown players. The problem in England is that there is a big gap between the academies and the first team, the reserve league is not filling this gap.

“It may now be difficult to maintain quality, but we will continue to do our best. The number of players is not the point, the quality is the point. But if they have decided this maybe they have been thinking about this rule for a long time.”