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For the Premiership's top clubs, a subtle change in the rules this summer makes a certain type of player more valuable than ever before. The homegrown variety are not just precious for the old-fashioned reasons - saving a fortune in transfer fees and growing up with passion for the shirt drummed into them. They are also absolutely necessary to satisfy Uefa's increasing demands to promote local talent.

Last season, European football's governing body introduced a quota system designed, in theory at least, to rein in the trend for packing teams with foreigners and to maintain the development of domestic players.

The rule applies to any club competing in European competition, so it is not just the big four who need to bear it in mind but also the tranche of teams angling for the Uefa Cup. Initially, four homegrown players had to be named in the squad, but that is currently being phased up. This season, the quota increases to six and by next season it will crank up to eight. Considering Uefa impose a squad size of 25, that means almost a third will be classed as homegrown.

Helpful as it might eventually turn out to be for the national team, it is enough to make managers such as Rafa Benitez and Arsene Wenger curse in any language. Constructing sides to catch up with Manchester United and Chelsea is hard enough as it is without extra restrictions. Not that Liverpool appear to be overly influenced by it. Last season's Champions League finalists have spent heavily this close-season on players from Spain, Holland, Ukraine and Israel. Benitez can throw a few youth-team players into his European squad to make up the numbers, but the situation is getting noticeably tighter. The Liverpool manager has often grumbled about the production line at Melwood and even though the teenaged Reds won the FA

Youth Cup last season he has felt compelled to revamp the system this summer.

The challenge to English clubs is eased a little by the fact only half of the quota have to be graduates of the club's own academy. The other half must have been trained by a club within the same national association. Chelsea's new signing Steve Sidwell, having been educated at a fellow English club, qualifies as 'homegrown' for the Stamford Bridge club just as much as John Terry does.

Scanning the globalised names that represent England's Champions League participants, the quota is obviously a sticky issue at the highest level. During this transfer window Arsenal imported from France, Croatia and Poland. Manchester United, while being seduced by Latin talent, also splashed out on Owen Hargreaves, but he does not ease the load, even though he plays for England. Born in Canada but having come through Bayern Munich's youth system, he counts as homegrown only in Germany. A player's nationality is less of an issue than where he was raised - as long as a lad has spent three years at a club from the age of 15 to 21 he qualifies. So Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas, for example, counts as homegrown for them.

It is messy. A headache. But the bottom line is that producing - or even buying in - domestically trained young players has become a pressing matter. Consequently England's major clubs are being actively encouraged to blow a portion of their budget on prospects they think have a good chance of developing into players classy enough to handle European football. Chelsea voraciously collect youngsters from home and abroad - likewise Arsenal, who are continuing the work that got their kids to the Carling Cup final last season. They were delighted to recruit England under-16 defender Kyle Bartley from Bolton during the summer.

How good does a teenager have to be these days to make the grade, to penetrate a squad with European football on the agenda? The season ahead brings three highly rated youngsters to the attention of the Premiership direct from the Championship. Gareth Bale, Nicklas Bendtner and Giles Barnes, who were among the blue-chip performers in English football's second tier last season for Southampton, Birmingham City and Derby County, all arrive with glowing reputations. All expect to play a significant role in the new campaign.

As Theo Walcott's growing pains at Arsenal last season demonstrated, it is not necessarily a breeze being flung into the top flight in your tender years. Bale, who like Walcott moved to north London for one of the largest transfer fees ever spent on a teenager, is a year further down the line than his old Southampton academy room-mate. He is being integrated at his new club Tottenham at 18 years of age, rather than 17, and with a bigger and bolder physical presence looks to be in better shape to make an immediate impression.

Tottenham certainly think so, and they are not the only ones. Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal all considered buying the Welshman. Harry Redknapp, who knows a thing or two about giving youthful prodigies their heads and kept an eye on a young Bale during his spell as manager at St Mary's, believes he has the potential to become the best left-back in the country. 'I think Tottenham have pulled off a marvellous piece of business,' he said. 'Gareth was just a young lad when I was manager at Southampton, but you could see even then that he was a real talent. He has grace and style about him. Even when he was just a kid he had the brain to make the ball do the work.'

Last season was a whirlwind for the boy from Cardiff. From day one in the Championship Bale showed he had the maturity to command matches and the skill from set pieces to seize them. At the time Southampton manager George Burley was 'shocked' by his development. 'He looks and behaves like a 17-year-old up close, but on the pitch he is a man and dominates matches, even from left-back,' he enthused. 'There's no limit to what he can achieve.'

Comparisons with Ryan Giggs have become common. The deft left foot and comfort with which he performs above his age group has seen to that. Bale became Wales's youngest international in May 2006 when he played against Trinidad & Tobago at the age of 16 years and 315 days, taking a record Giggs had once held. Soon afterwards Bale reached another milestone as his country's youngest scorer with a hallmark curler of a set piece. 'Bend it like Bale' T-shirts acquired cult status around Wales matches. Marking Ronaldinho during a friendly with Brazil remains a highlight of his embryonic career so far.

He is already established as John Toshack's first choice as left-back or wing-back. Having started out as a left-winger, Bale has the qualities to play in either midfield or defence, which gives Tottenham manager Martin Jol healthy options when it comes to blooding his Ł10million youngster.

His progress as a promising schoolboy was not all plain sailing, however. Having joined Southampton as a nine-year-old, he mixed his football with representing his school at rugby, hockey and long-distance running. Malcolm Elias, the former academy director at Southampton, recalls how close he was to being rejected at the age of 14. 'Gareth had so many growth spurts that it affected his coordination and he struggled with injury,' said Elias. 'He was also one of the youngest players in his age group, so there were some serious doubts among the coaching staff. He hadn't displayed his true potential. In fact, he hadn't even been called into the Wales Schools sides at this point, so we were undecided whether to offer him a scholarship.

'We made Gareth and his parents aware that he had just one game against Norwich to convince us. There was real pressure on the boy. He proved, against boys much bigger than him, that he could handle it both physically and mentally.'

Pressure appears not to be an issue when it comes to Bendtner. Anyone who has crossed paths with this cocky young striker is left under no illusions about his confidence in his ability. His mantra is simple but effective: 'For me confidence is very important. It's nice to go on the pitch and feel you can handle everyone and take on the world.'

Bendtner has just returned from a year out of his schooling at Arsenal, having impressed enough during a loan spell with Birmingham to be in contention for the first team at the Emirates Stadium. Thierry Henry may be gone and Bendtner may appear to be towards the bottom of the pecking order of strikers burdened with replacing the Frenchman, but if there is one person who thinks replacing Henry is well within his remit it is the strapping Dane.

'We expect Nicklas to move forward to show us some aspects of his talent,' was Arsene Wenger's reserved assessment of the opportunity in front of Bendtner. The manager chose his words judiciously. As Steve Bruce discovered last season, he is a precocious talent who needs to be carefully guided. At times in training the boy appeared to be coasting. At one point the crowd got on his back because they had seen his capability and wanted to see it at full stretch 100 per cent of the time. Keen as Birmingham's manager was to talk up Bendtner's ability, the odd rollocking was in order to coax him to fulfil his promise.

'It's really down to him,' Bruce said. 'He needs to keep learning and keep working. But has he got natural ability? Yes, by the bucketload. Can he run with the ball? Yes. Can he see and execute a pass? Yes. Can he head it? Yes. Can he score goals? Yes. At 6ft 4in, his pace, control, poise and balance is incredible. I don't think I've seen anyone of his size with his attributes. However, he is still not fully developed. You look at Wayne Rooney and he was a man by 18. When you see Nicklas's frame, he's still a boy, but he will fill out. It's how he handles everything from here that matters.'

Having returned to London on the back of helping his loan club to win promotion, Bendtner thanked Birmingham and Bruce for an experience he valued as 'magnificent'.

Last season Bendtner graduated into a full international. He scored on his debut for Denmark and has already racked up three goals in eight appearances - one of which was a hugely gratifying match-winner to defeat Germany away. Back home, a footballing nation who have been a faded force lately think they have a special talent on their hands. Despite his imposing height, Bendtner is not a conventional target man. His touch and cleverness on the ball are his prime qualities.

The best since Preben Elkjaer? Bendtner has evoked memories of one of Denmark's greatest footballing exports, who won the title during a starry spell in Serie A in the 1980s and boasted a tremendous international scoring record - better than a goal every two games.

Martin Laursen, Aston Villa's Danish defender, kept a close watch on his compatriot's development at neighbouring Birmingham because of the increasing clamour in Copenhagen. 'Bendtner is drawing comparisons with Elkjaer,' he explains. 'He was a big, mobile forward who never gave up. He made his debut for the national team when he was a teenager and he went on to great success. We have a history of producing good strikers. Perhaps Nicklas can be the next one.'

Bendtner hails from a sporting family. His mother was a professional volleyball player and his younger brother is a karate champion. 'I played tennis, basketball, swam at a high level and I got Danish junior records at athletics for the 60m and 100m. But it was always going to be football for me,' he says. Such was his ambition, he left boyhood team FC Copenhagen as soon as a major club were on the horizon. Arsenal brought Bendtner to London at the earliest opportunity.

Despite his natural confidence, it was still daunting. 'Even though it is a dream you're chasing, it's hard to move country, to sit on your own at 16 in a room with no one there you can call your friend,' he recalls. 'But you have to get used to it. If you want to be one of the best you have to do that.

'If I set my mind on doing something, I won't stop until it is done, and I want to become a world-class player. I want to win and I'm strong-willed. I've always been like that. I don't know where it comes from, but that's the goal I've set myself. I need to play in the Premiership. I want to break into the Arsenal first team.'

The debate about what size of club is best for a young prospect comes around with most exciting teenagers these days. Would Bale be better spending another year at Southampton? Will he get enough games at Tottenham to gain the experience needed to push on quickly? Can Bendtner break into a front line that, even without Henry, still has Emmanuel Adebayor, Robin van Persie and new signing Eduardo da Silva in front of him? Would he be wiser to spend next season at a club where he will play every week?

Giles Barnes brought considerable relief to Derby when he chose to stay at the club that gave him his chance when he was 17 years old. Established top-flight clubs have been scouting him ever since he broke into the first team at Pride Park - a tall, quick, athletic boy with imagination on the pitch and a thunderous shot. He is versatile to the extent that nobody is yet sure of his best position.

Derby director Mike Horton described it as 'like signing a multi-million-pound player,' when Barnes - who could easily have engineered a move elsewhere - committed himself to a contract that runs until 2010 even before his team won promotion last May. Undoubtedly he will play more regularly at Derby in the season ahead than if he had been added to a bigger club's resources as a useful signing to fit in with Uefa's homegrown quota system.

Barnes credited manager Billy Davies as being crucial to his choice, explaining: 'The gaffer was a massive influence on my decision. He has a great passion for the club and is a winner and I like that.'

Davies has been a tough taskmaster, though. The Scot, who has a touch of Alex Ferguson about him, is clearly intent on carefully nurturing the most coveted talent from the Derby academy's latest batch of graduates. On a couple of occasions last season Davies left Barnes out of the side, giving him time to brood as he watched from the bench.

'Barnesy is a good player when he is angry, when he's trying to prove the manager wrong,' Davies noted. 'But he has to improve his consistency. He has given me something to think about, but that's what you get with young players. You've got to keep their feet on the ground and keep reminding them that there is work to do. Getting mad with the manager from time to time helps your progression.'

Last season Barnes made a habit of responding to a spell on the sidelines by seizing the moment and inspiring his team. The most valuable contribution coincided with the Championship play-offs, which he feared he would miss because of an untimely knee injury. Barnes recovered sufficiently to come off the bench to play a crucial role in both the semi-final, where he scored a nerveless penalty in the defeat of Southampton, and in the final, where he strolled on to the pitch at Wembley and provided a clever assist for Stephen Pearson's promotion-clinching goal.

Barnes's affiliation with Derby owes a lot to the fact his father's job took the family away from London a few years ago. Born in Barking and raised in Gants Hill, he was making progress as a schoolboy on Arsenal's books, so Barnes might have considered the move to County as an unwelcome change. But he now feels very much in the right place to make strides. 'My heart is at Derby and I want to be here,' he says.

Capped by England at under-19 level, Barnes is often deployed wide on the right even though his preferred position is in central midfield. Whatever his role, the main thing is that Derby need all the natural ability they can lay their hands on for the challenge ahead.

Given the number of top clubs tracking his progress - Liverpool, Tottenham and Everton have been among the interested parties - Barnes will be keenly watched to see how he copes with the leap up to a sterner level.

The Premier League can be an unforgiving playground. Last season Arsene Wenger felt obliged to defend Theo Walcott from the sniping that accompanied some pale performances in his first season in the top flight.

'What is terrible is that if you do not respond at the moment people want you to they burn you quickly,' he said. 'And they forget how old the boy is. People are very negative at an age when he should not be in the first team. We try to help him and to be patient. A career when you are young is up and down, although people in the modern world don't accept that.'

Consider the number of fresh young faces to emerge in a single season. Last term John Obi Mikel - an established international for Nigeria - caught the eye. Micah Richards enhanced his reputation at Manchester City and deservedly made his debut for England. James Vaughan and Mark Noble won the hearts of supporters at Everton and West Ham respectively.

Over to you Messrs Bale, Bendtner and Barnes.

Source: The Observer.guardian.co.uk