Brexit secretary accused of talking 'nonsensical tosh' in rambling video about football and migration

Cristiano Ronaldo. Thierry Henry. Kevin De Bruyne. Fernando Torres. Eden Hazard. David Ginola. Jonas Olsson. Just some of the great European players to have graced the Premier League over the decades.

However, if Brexit secretary Steve Barclay gets his way, there will be no more European footballers playing in England's top flight but considerably more players from Africa, Brazil and Argentina. Sorry, what?

In a video posted to Twitter on Thursday by Barclay, the Tory minister claims that Brexit will give the UK an opportunity to strengthen English players at the top of the game but also bring in more players like Mohamed Salah and Sergio Aguero.

In the clip, Barclay says:

People don't always put football and our new Brexit deal together, unless it's Gary Lineker going on about Remain again.

But one of the things about taking control of our immigration is we can decide, do we want more English qualified players in the Premier League, which is something the FA are keen to see.

Or do we want to have more talented players from Brazil, Africa, Argentina and elsewhere in the world, as the Premier League are keen to see.

So we'll actually have much more say as to where we recruit players from. Do it on talent, rather than it being because they're in Europe as opposed to the rest of the world and as a result, we can look at having more English qualified players for the England team, but also look at the best players from Brazil, Argentina, Africa and elsewhere and ensure we're getting the best players into the Premier League.

We honestly don't know where to start with this one.

Firstly, is he saying that footballers like David Silva, N'Golo Kante and Virgil van Dijk aren't very good and no longer wanted in the Premier League? Also, he's failed to notice that a lot of the best players in the league at the moment are from Africa and South America, Sadio Mane, Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang and Ederson to name just a few.

In addition, if Barclay views these players as migrants, which seems problematic for a whole host of reasons, then he should really review the UK's entire policy on the issue, which was spelled out to him by Labour MP David Lammy:

As for that unnecessary dig at Gary Lineker, the former England striker and current BBC and BT Sport pundit had his own comeback for Barclay, who he accused of spouting 'nonsensical tosh.'

Elswhere, Barclay's completely clueless ramblings, which displayed as much knowledge of football as a six-month-old baby, were decimated by sports experts, journalists and pro-EU activistsTwitter for just, well, not making sense.

HT New European

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