Greg Dyke... wants English Premier League clubs to reduce number of non-home grown players in their squads.

English FA chairman Greg Dyke wants English clubs to unearth their own Harry Kane next season with the FA making it harder for foreign players to secure work permits.

Stricter rules, approved by the Home Office last week, will come into force from May 1 and intend to reduce the number of non-EU players in the Barclays Premier League, who are seen as blocking English talent.

Dyke also wants to persuade the Premier League to drop the number of non-home grown players allowed in a 25-man squad from 17 to 13 and to adjust the definition of ‘home grown’ so that players only qualify if they are registered for three years prior to turning 18, rather than 21.

The Premier League is understood to have serious reservations about both changes to the home grown players rule, including whether there would be legal implications.

“We will go round (the clubs) and try to convince them. We will ask: ‘Are you sure you haven’t got a Harry Kane playing in your youth side?’,” said Dyke.

“It must help the negotiations mustn’t it? Suddenly an English kid who was out on loan at four different places, who was touch and go to get a game in the first team, is the top scorer in English football.

“It’s great news. How many more Harry Kanes are there out there, who just can’t get a game?”

33 per cent of players who gained entry under the old rules would have been turned down under the new system

The proposals come from the FA’s England Commission, launched in 2013 to help English youngsters succeed at the highest level and achieve Dyke’s ambitious target of winning the 2022 World Cup.

A clock counting down to the final in Qatar has since been installed at St George’s Park but the chance of England progressing that far remains small with Englishmen like Tottenham’s Kane, currently joint top-scorer in the Premier League, forming only 35 per cent of those playing in the top flight.

Dyke wants that figure to rise to “around 40 per cent” in the next five years.

The new work permit rules, which apply across the whole Football League, will see prospective non-EU players given points for various criteria including the agreed transfer fee and wages, international caps, and the level of league and club they are joining from.

The changes are aimed at ending clubs’ reliance on a lenient appeals system that has granted approval to 79 per cent of its applicants, and ensuring only the most talented non-EU players ply their trade in this country.

The FA calculates that 33 per cent of players who gained entry under the old rules would have been turned down under the new system.

The governing body will now set about convincing the Premier League to increase the home-grown quota in 25-man squads from eight to 12 and to lower the age at which players must be attached to FA clubs from 18 to 15.

Under the current rules, Cesc Fabregas, Gael Clichy and Asmir Begovic all count as home-grown players in the Premier League despite earning more than 150 caps between them for Spain, France and Bosnia respectively.

“The Premier League has already embraced the idea of Home Grown Player requirements, but the current rules are not having the desired impact,” Dyke said.

“These proposed changes will encourage clubs to play the genuine home-grown talent that is being developed through their and other academies.”