Last updated on .From the section Scottish

Australian Mark Milligan had to wait a month to make his Hibernian debut pending receipt of a work permit

The UK government will be asked to make the free movement of European Union footballers exempt after Brexit.

Talks between the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and England's Premier League about Britain leaving the EU have been ongoing for months.

Clubs are increasingly concerned their pool of transfer targets could shrink.

Almost a fifth of Scottish Premiership players are non-British EU nationals and are able to work here under freedom of movement and labour regulations.

At present, non-EU players require a Home Office work permit, with a stipulation that players must have played in 75% of their country's international matches in the past two years.

In Scotland, if players do not meet the criteria, exemptions can obtained if a specially-convened panel is convinced of their merits.

However, some believe new rules could provide an opportunity for the British game to concentrate on home-grown talent.

"Perhaps we can make rules that will be beneficial to the Scottish game in terms of talent we want to attract and retain," said Professor Raymond Boyle from Glasgow University.

"You also have to remember that the football sector sits within a whole range of other industries who are all knocking on the door trying to say we are the most important and we need to be prioritised."

'We could have to wait three months' - case study

Hibernian have had to wait for two summer signings - Ghanaian Thomas Agyepong and Australian Mark Milligan - to obtain respective work permits before being free to play.

The Premiership club have just signed Miquel Nelom but chief executive Leeann Dempster said that deal could have taken up to three months had the Dutchman been treated like a non-British EU national.

Dempster believes the UK government should look favourably upon football because of its place in British society.

"I think you could definitely argue this, in terms of sporting excellence and where football is in the British psyche," she told BBC Scotland.

"I think you could also argue around the financial element in terms of what football contributes to the exchequer.

"There's definitely a discussion to be had around it and I would hope football would be looked upon favourably."