Liverpool have confirmed a frustrating situation involving one of their most promising young defenders, with 18-year-old centre-back Ifeanyi Ndukwe set to be unavailable for first-team selection for the remainder of the calendar year — not because of injury or a lack of form, but due to a work permit complication that has nothing to do with his performances on the pitch.
Ndukwe’s situation became clear over the weekend, when Liverpool rounded off their pre-season preparations with a double-header against Serie A side Como. Andoni Iraola’s squad played out a goalless draw in a shortened, 70-minute behind-closed-doors friendly at the club’s training centre earlier in the day, before facing Cesc Fabregas’ Como side again in a public fixture at Anfield, which Liverpool won 2-0 courtesy of first-half goals from Cody Gakpo and new signing Jeremy Jacquet, who marked his own Liverpool debut with a goal.
Despite Iraola naming squads of 30 players across the two matches, Ndukwe featured in neither. Crucially, that omission is understood to reflect team selection rather than any early enforcement of his permit situation — reports indicate Iraola simply preferred his other available central defensive options for those particular fixtures, rather than the absence being connected to the deeper regulatory issue that will actually prevent him playing once competitive fixtures begin.
Ndukwe’s situation is made all the more frustrating by how well he’d performed during the earlier stages of pre-season. The teenager joined Liverpool this summer in a £2.6 million deal from Austria Vienna, with the transfer completed shortly after his 18th birthday. Notably, Liverpool had actually agreed the deal in principle considerably earlier, back in January, showing the club had identified him as a target and moved to secure his signature well in advance of finalising the move
Since arriving at Anfield, Ndukwe has reportedly impressed throughout the summer’s pre-season friendly programme, giving Liverpool’s coaching staff good reason for optimism about his long-term potential at the club. He stands at 6ft 6in, a notable physical presence at centre-back, and came through the Austria Vienna academy system before making his move to England. His senior experience prior to the transfer was limited, however — he made just a single senior appearance for his previous club last season, reflecting his status as a genuinely young, developing talent rather than an already-established first-team performer
The reason behind Ndukwe’s enforced absence lies not with football matters at all, but with the regulatory framework English clubs must now navigate when signing overseas players. Since the UK’s departure from the European Union, clubs have had to work within a considerably more complex system to secure the right for foreign signings to play and work in England, a shift that has particularly affected younger, less-established players who haven’t yet built up the kind of senior playing record that satisfies the relevant criteria.
Central to that system is the requirement for Liverpool to obtain what’s known as a Governing Body Endorsement, or GBE, from the Football Association, which then allows a player to secure a work visa from the Home Office. That endorsement is determined through a points-based system, taking into account factors like a player’s senior appearances, the standard of the league and competitions they’ve played in, and their involvement in international football at various age groups.
For a player like Ndukwe — still only 18, with just one senior appearance to his name prior to signing for Liverpool — accumulating the necessary points has proven difficult. Specifically, he fell short of the 15-point threshold required to qualify for a GBE and, by extension, a UK work permit. Without that permit in place, he is currently unable to feature for Liverpool in any competitive fixture, regardless of the form he’s shown in pre-season or the confidence Iraola’s coaching staff may have in his ability
The practical upshot is significant: despite being a fully registered Liverpool player who has trained and played alongside the first team throughout pre-season, Ndukwe will not be permitted to feature when Liverpool travel to Newcastle this coming Sunday for their opening Premier League fixture of the new campaign — nor, indeed, for any competitive fixture for the remainder of the calendar year. That’s a considerable period of enforced absence for a young player who, judging by the reports of his pre-season form, appeared to be pushing to force his way into contention for at least squad involvement.
This isn’t a punishment for any wrongdoing on Ndukwe’s part, nor a reflection of any deficiency in his ability — it’s a straightforward regulatory outcome, a consequence of the specific points system now governing how overseas players qualify to work in English football following Brexit. Younger players signed from clubs and leagues that don’t generate significant GBE points, even highly promising ones, can find themselves in exactly this kind of situation: registered by an English club, training with the squad, but legally barred from playing competitively until they accumulate the necessary points through other means.
For players caught in this scenario, there are generally a couple of routes toward eventually qualifying for a work permit. One is simply time and continued involvement at international youth level, gradually building up the points required as they earn further caps and, potentially, senior international recognition further down the line. Another common route is a loan move to a club in a qualifying league or competition where the points system doesn’t present the same barrier — sometimes even a spell playing outside England altogether — allowing the player to continue accumulating senior appearances and relevant experience that can later count toward a successful GBE application.
Given that Ndukwe cannot play for Liverpool in any competitive capacity for the rest of the year, it’s plausible the club may explore a temporary loan arrangement elsewhere, allowing him to continue his football development and accumulate senior game time in an environment where he’s actually eligible to play, rather than simply sitting out for months at Liverpool’s training ground with no route to actual match action. Whether that’s the direction Liverpool choose to go in, or whether they prefer to keep him in-house working with the club’s underage or development sides until his situation resolves naturally, remains to be seen.
Ndukwe’s situation is far from unique in the post-Brexit landscape of English football. Since the work permit rules changed, clubs across the Premier League and EFL have had to become considerably more strategic in how they approach signing young overseas talent, factoring GBE eligibility into transfer planning in a way that simply wasn’t necessary before Brexit. Deals for highly promising teenage players from clubs outside the UK now routinely come with an accompanying assessment of exactly when, if at all, that player will actually be eligible to feature competitively — sometimes resulting in transfers being structured with an initial period on loan elsewhere built in from the outset, precisely to build up the necessary points before a first-team involvement in England becomes possible.
Liverpool’s decision to sign Ndukwe back in January, well before finalising the move over the summer, suggests the club were fully aware of the regulatory hurdles involved and made a considered decision that his long-term potential was worth navigating that complexity for. Given the fee involved — £2.6 million for an 18-year-old with minimal senior experience — it’s clear Liverpool’s recruitment team see considerable long-term value in the player, even accepting that his path to first-team involvement in England will be delayed as a direct consequence of the current permit rules.
In the immediate term, Iraola’s focus turns to a Liverpool squad that, minus Ndukwe, still boasts strong depth at centre-back heading into the new Premier League season, with the club having named a full 30-man squad across both pre-season fixtures against Como. The 2-0 win over Como, capped by Jeremy Jacquet’s debut goal alongside a strike from Cody Gakpo, offers Liverpool a positive send-off into the new campaign as they prepare to travel to Newcastle for their opening league fixture this Sunday.
For Ndukwe himself, the situation represents an unusual and no doubt frustrating start to life as a Liverpool player — impressing sufficiently in pre-season to catch the eye, only to find himself sidelined by matters entirely outside his own control or performance. How Liverpool choose to manage his development over the coming months, whether that’s continued domestic training away from competitive football, or a loan move designed to help him accumulate the points needed to eventually qualify for a UK work permit, will likely shape how quickly he’s able to make his actual competitive debut for the club he signed for the best part of a year ago.