Reliable journo shares ‘Significant’ player availability tweaks by FIFA & if EFL will apply them
Leeds United are set to be unaffected by tweaks that FIFA have made to player availability with the Championship season set to resume next week.
The Athletic journalist Matt Slater has reported on his personal Twitter account that two of FIFA’s updates are “significant” as they will all players to play for three clubs in one season, instead of two, and leagues have permission to open transfer windows before seasons end.
It means that pre-agreed summer transfers could, in effect, be sealed before the season finishes and players made available to play in whatever fixtures are remaining.
Slater then added that the Premier League and EFL are not going to take on board FIFA’s new measures and that FIFA have only granted permission for leagues to do this, not force them.
Leeds don’t have any permanent deals in the pipeline for any players who aren’t currently on the books at Elland Road.
Helder Costa will join Leeds permanently at the end of the season while the Whites also have the obligation to sign Jean-Kevin Augustin from RB Leipzig if they win promotion into the top-flight.
Even if the EFL did adopt FIFA’s measures, it wouldn’t have had an impact at Leeds but it is probably best, in the interest of fairness, that the EFL took this approach.
If clubs were allowed to sign and play new players before the season ended, that could give the richer clubs in the league an unfair advantage on those who are not as well off.
The EFL have made a mess of plenty of things in the past but in this case, their stance on FIFA’s new rules is the best one.
In other Leeds United news, Phil Hay’s offered an update on the positive coronavirus tests at Elland Road.