No place like home?

It's ironic that at a time when the 'grow your own' movement has never been more popular (at least amongst gardeners), the Premier League have decided to impose strict new rules on its clubs to ensure they, too, use home-grown produce. Sorry - 'talent'.

All very noble too, except when you look into the make-up of most Premier League clubs, you'll find they're already largely abiding by the rules anyway.

According to Premier League chief Richard Scudamore, all clubs from the 2010-11 season onwards should have at least eight 'home-grown' players in a squad of 25. And by 'home-grown', that means a player who, between the ages of 16 and 21, have been registered for at least three years with an English or Welsh club.

A big shift in the way Premier League teams will line up? Not necessarily. Here's how the Arsenal team would look using players that already fall into line with the new rules.

Many familiar names are present, so much so that you'd be hard pushed to notice any major difference with the teams Arsenal put out at present anyway.

So is this the latest example of the powers-that-be tinkering unnecessarily with the beautiful game, or is it the work of a bunch of visionaries?

Your thoughts, as ever, are most welcome...