The FIGC, Italy’s football federation, has made a request to CONI (the Italian National Olympic Committee) for players from the United Kingdom to be treated the same as players from the European Union when it comes to player registration.
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Since the United Kingdom left the European Union, players who are English, Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish have had to occupy a non-EU slot when teams register their squads for their domestic league or European competition.
An example of this is that Milan have used one of their two non-EU slots available at the start of the summer on Ruben Loftus-Cheek, whereas previously he would not have occupied one. A player like Christian Pulisic, whilst American, does not occupy a slot as he holds Croatian citizenship as well.
As was explained by legal expert Felice Raimondo on Twitter, the change could affect the current transfer market. Due to the FIGC publishing the registration details for the current season at the start of August, Milan could recover one of the non-EU slots, the one taken up by Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
“The change could already impact this market because the FIGC usually publishes the communication regulating the registration of non-EU players (for the current season) at the beginning of August. And so the timing is likely to be the same. Milan would recover a slot,” Raimondo explained.
One of the reasons that Milan stopped their move for Daichi Kamada is that he needed to occupy a non-EU slot, although that move also broke down due to tactical changes.
