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Chancel Mbemba’s Newcastle signing has been caught up in red tape.

United have to apply for a work permit because Mbemba does not have an EU passport – and matters are complicated slightly by the FA tightening up the rules on which players are eligible for special dispensation in a bid to stop the flow of foreign players supposedly taking squad places that English players could be using.

So here’s what happens next as United look to have Mbemba available for the weekend clash with Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach.

IS THE PROCESS MORE DIFFICULT NOW?

Yes. Greg Dyke made tightening the work permit criteria a key part of his FA Commission because he wanted to stop the flow of foreign players coming into the English game who aren’t much better than young English players.

Dyke claims that the old regulations were too easy to pass and too many players who weren’t necessarily good enough were moving to the Premier League. He says that under the new regulations, 33% of the players who got a work permit in the last five years would have been refused.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that the regulations aren’t designed to stop really good players moving to England, regardless of age or nationality. So Mbemba, one of the top defensive prospects in Europe, should be fine.

SO HOW DOES MBEMBA GET A WORK PERMIT?

Newcastle need Governing Body Endorsement (GBE). Essentially that means they need the FA to endorse their application to get a work permit from the Home Office.

This can be done one of two ways – either by passing the automatic criteria or by being approved by a three-man panel.

DOES MBEMBA QUALIFY AUTOMATICALLY?

Not entirely clear but looks debatable. You can view the guidelines in full here: www.thefa.com/football-rules-governance/more/player-registrations .

According to the FA’s own regulations they will automatically grant a GBE if a player has played in the “required percentage” of his countries’ games in the “reference period”.

Although Mbemba has played 75% of his games for his country the FA’s new guidelines say only players who play for countries ranked between 1 and 50 get automatic approval. Congo DR are 74th in the list of aggregated rankings on the FA’s website – although they are higher on the FIFA website – so it looks as if it may have to go to a panel.

WHO IS ON THE PANEL?

It’s a three-person panel, chaired by an independent, legally qualified person. There will then be two additional people on the panel with experience at the “top level” of the game. They have to be independent, with no conflict of interest.

The FA’s guidelines say: “No individual who would objectively be considered to have a current association with the applicant club will be appointed to the Exceptions Panel.”

HOW DO THEY REACH THEIR DECISION?

They would take into account the fee Newcastle have paid, the wages he’ll get and the quality of the club the player is joining from. The idea is that if United have paid a lot for him – and are paying him more than most in their squad – they are backing their own judgement that he’s better than what they’ve got.

HOW DO THE FA VALUE THAT?

(Image: PA Wire)

It’s a points process – and Mbemba needs to get four points to qualify (although the panel doesn’t have to pass it, even if he does). The guidelines say: “They are under no obligation to issue a Governing Body Endorsement even when the relevant points threshold is crossed.”

It’s seperated into primary review criteria – the most important – and secondary review criteria, which is taken into account if the player doesn’t get across the four-point threshold.

WHAT IS THE PRIMARY REVIEW CRITERIA?

- You get three points if the transfer fee is in the “75th percentile” of all fees paid out in the last two transfer windows – ie, in the top 25% of transfers. It is difficult to work that out but the “value will be provided by The FA directly to The Premier League and The Football League prior to each transfer window.”

- You get two points if the transfer fee is between the “50th and 75th” percentile of all fees paid in the last two transfer windows.

Two points if he’s among the top earners at the club (in the 75th percentile). It’s one point if he’s between the 50th and 75th percentile.

- One point if he has been playing in a ‘Top League’ – that’s defined as one of the six European leagues that provides the majority of the best international teams in the world – and played 30% of the domestic minutes.

- If his club played in the group stages of the Champions League or Europa League – and he played enough minutes – it’s one point.

Mbemba is likely to pass the four-point threshold on this criteria.

ANY OTHER FACTORS?

If you didn’t get four points from the primary criteria, it goes down to secondary criteria – which is basically additional factors for outstanding players not playing in top leagues or for top countries.

Here you can pick up a point if your wage is within 20% of the top earners at your club. Anderlecht are playing in a ‘Secondary League’, so there will be a point for that too.

After that, the panel can listen to “subjective criteria” – that means character references from managers, coaches or ex-players.

IS MBEMBA GOING TO HAVE A PROBLEM?

In a word, no. The guidelines have been tightened by Greg Dyke to try and stop mediocre players coming from overseas and blocking the progression of good young English players into Premier League squads. The new guidelines make it quite clear they’re not to stop the best prospects coming to the Premier League, and Mbemba looks like one of them.

He’s likely to pick up enough points but even if he doesn’t, Newcastle can make a pressing case that he’s an outstanding prospect. Given that Atletico Madrid and Borussia Monchengladbach wanted him, he’s clearly a player with talent.

WHEN WILL HE JOIN UP WITH NEWCASTLE?

If the GBE is approved on Thursday it should be a relatively quick process. He should be able to join up with the squad by the weekend.