Fulham just dealt another heavy blow to the Scottish academy system. The London club has officially reached an agreement to sign 16-year-old Celtic winger Erskine Rennie. He isn’t just taking the first offer on the table. Rennie actively turned down multiple competing bids from other English and European clubs to secure a long-term contract at Craven Cottage.
You can trace this exact move directly back to post-Brexit work permit regulations. English Premier League clubs are now completely locked out of freely signing underage European talent. That structural change broke years of quiet non-aggression pacts across the border. Now, top-tier English scouting departments focus heavily on local UK academies, aggressively poaching top prospects directly from Scottish teams before they ever hit a senior pitch.
The latest transaction moved fast. Transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano broke the initial news, which was quickly verified by The National confirming the details of Erskine Rennie’s long-term contract agreement with Fulham. And he is hardly the only prospect making the jump south.
This departure perfectly mirrors Liverpool’s recent acquisition of another 16-year-old Celtic defender, Dara Jikiemi. The Scottish champions are bleeding youth talent to English clubs forced to shop closer to home. With Fulham securing Rennie on a long-term basis, the EPL’s localized scouting net shows absolutely no signs of closing.