14 Oct 2026 15:46:21
One for the Eds, and one that reminds me how much we miss Ed002 as he would've known this off the top of his head!
Why do lower table teams find it easier to get work permits for foreign players, especially from outside of Europe?
A couple of thoughts I have are to do with wage bills, and playing HG players.
I'm sure I read somewhere that we only had 1 available 'special' work permit and Ndiaye already had been allocated it so Ndukwe had to go on loan.
I would imagine that lower table teams probably have a far higher percentage of HG players and therefore would qualify for more of these special category WPs than we would.
Also, can't remember if there's something to do with wages for the new arrival and whether they represent a certain %age of our wageroll?
But I wonder if one of you would have more of a definitive idea?
{Ed001's Note - the HG players and special work permits certainly does help but the main thing is the wages. To get the permit, you have to reach a points threshold, which is made up of a number of things, such as international caps (and the level of the country they are earnt for affects the number of points). The easiest way to get the points is to put the player in the top bracket of earners, which is again easier at a club like Brighton than at Liverpool. It is almost impossible to get enough points for a player without recent international appearances unless you can pay them in the top bracket. That is when you would turn to a 'special' work permit, but that is a problem for us now.}
14 Oct 2026 16:16:45
Thanks for that Ed001, yes the wages as you explain makes a lot of sense. When we've got so many earners on £200k+ we'd have to pay a player a helluva lot of money to get into the highest earners bracket.
I guess that's where multi-club models come in useful, where you own a smaller club too where a player can build up points and maybe get into the international squad enough to then move to the larger club.
{Ed001's Note - spot on mate, that is exactly what they are used for, as well as money laundering and fudging transfer fees etc. We would need to pay over 300k, I believe, due to Virgil's wage. There is no way we would do that for an unknown youngster.}
14 Oct 2026 16:42:32
Great explanation, Ed - it certainly clears up a lot.
I did have one question about how we signed Leoni, though. Obviously no one can be expected to know the specifics, but would he likely be on the special work permit?
{Ed001's Note - yes.