Sir Alex Ferguson said the English Football Association's decision to scrap the travelling time restrictions will help prevent English clubs being forced to look abroad for top talent.
Speaking in Dubai on Thursday, Fabio Capello, the England coach, has questioned the motives behind Europe's top clubs luring young players from outside their own countries and, in some cases, continents.
Ferguson accepts why so many observers are concerned at the situation and admits he has been forced to look abroad himself, signing the Da Silva brothers, Rafael and Fabio, from Brazil as 14 year olds. But the Manchester United manager said the situation was caused by the FA's own rules, which made clubs concentrate on their own locality to fill their academies, something he said is impractical.
"The new rules are bound to help," he said.
"The academy rules, as they were, the distance that players could sign, an hour and a half [journey] away, or an hour up to [the age of] 14, seemed ridiculous when you think I could bring a boy over from Amsterdam or Ireland. It was silly.
"With the point Fabio [Capello] has made, the new regulations will allow clubs to put their energies into scouting and coaching in their own countries."
Roberto Mancini, the Manchester City manager, used his own example to claim the situation is actually getting better.
"I left home when I was 13 because I wanted to play football," he said.
"I had to leave my parents and my family and I was alone. It was not easy.
"However, now you have the possibility to move to another city, or another country, and your parents, or someone from your family, can come with you.
"That is very important."
RESULT
Al Hilal 4 Persepolis 0
Khribin (31', 54', 89'), Al Shahrani 40'
Red card: Otayf (Al Hilal, 49')
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
