Premier League clubs eyeing rule changes fired transfer warning - 'A huge worry'

Andy Gray has warned the Premier League will no longer attract the best players in the world if restrictive financial rules continue to be in place.

He has seen former club Everton and Nottingham Forest fall foul of the Profit and Sustainability rules while a UEFA style Financial Fair Play system is set to replace the current controversial structure.

But for the Goodison Park and Aston Villa legend there is a bigger picture. “The Premier League need to be careful. The thing about it for the last 30 years is the ability to attract some of the top foreign players to help make it the best league in the world,” he stated.

“If we restrict the clubs in continuing to do this because they are running scared of breaking financial rules then other leagues will get the top players. That would be a huge worry because the standard of the Premier League would invariably drop.

“Of course we don’t want to see clubs bankrupting themselves but in the grand scheme of things I can’t think of too many big clubs who have gone to the wall. Some smaller clubs have had their problems but not the big hitters.”

Gray who won the League title with Everton also says that financial constraints helps maintain the cartel of the same small band of clubs repeating his achievement.

“For instance with suffocating financial rules in place the Premier League are denying one of my old clubs Aston Villa, with ambitious multi-millionaire owners, the opportunity of spending some decent money to bring in better players,” Gray added.

“They should be allowed to do that otherwise it’s a closed shop. That’s not good for football in this country. You want to see Aston Villa doing what they are doing this season, challenging for a Champions League spot as Newcastle United did