The proposed move of Nigerian forward Henry Onyekuru to West Ham has lead to talks about his eligibility to be issued a work permit if his transfer from Belgium side Eupen eventually goes through.
As things stands now, he won’t be eligible to apply for a work permit using the national team of Nigeria as he has only one cap for Nigeria, which means he falls short of the 75 percent national team matches required to be granted a work permit to play in England.
However West Ham can still use other means to get a work permit for him thanks to recent changes made to the rule by the English Football authorities last summer, when the totting up procedure was introduced.
The tooting-up procedure involves points tally, which are usually determined by transfer fees and wages clubs are willing to pay their new signing who falls short of the work permit rule via international appearances.
It is usually calculated using the transfer fee of the player, as it has to fall within the 25% of all transfer fees to Premier League clubs in the previous two windows, but if it falls short the player will earn two points.
That means for Onyekuru to be granted permit, West Ham will need to pay a transfer fee in the region of £7.87m which will give him three points, one short of the four points or more required to be granted a work permit using the totting up method.
20 year old Onyekuru who scored 25 goals for Eupen last season with 14 assists as well will also gain more points if the wages being paid to him are in the top 25% of the top 30 earners at the club.
Michael James
