'Anything from 1-3 weeks' - Why Marko Milovanovic and Daniel Bielica haven’t officially signed for Portsmouth yet

For all Pompey fans on tenterhooks, the current radio silence surrounding the official arrivals of Marko Milovanovic and Daniel Bielica will be excruciating.

With both players’ transfer fees agreed, personal terms signed off, and medicals completed, many members of the Fratton faithful are understandably asking: What’s the hold-up? Or, what’s gone wrong?

After all, on Wednesday they learned that the Blues’ move for Antalyaspor midfielder Jesper Cessay is currently at a standstill because of issues regarding a payment plan.

In the case of Milovanovic and Bielica, though, the delay isn’t a result of ongoing transfer negotiations, sticking points, or cold feet from either party for that matter.

Instead, it will be the rather clinical, multi-layered bureaucracy of the UK’s post-Brexit football work permit system that will be raising frustration levels at PO4.

Since the UK split from the European Union on January 31, 2020, and subsequently stopped the freedom of movement of EU citizens across its borders, an English club’s desire to sign a so-called overseas player now requires navigating a rigid two-step government rule book.

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Before a player can step onto the grass at Fratton Park or even the playing surface at its Hilsea training base, Pompey - like all clubs - must seek Governing Body Endorsement (GBE) status from the Football Association (FA), which then unlocks a Home Office International Sportsperson Visa that can last up to three years.

Qualification for GBE standing is determined by a strict points-based system.

Individuals deemed to be elite level athletes or internationals pass this stage automatically. But players like UD Almeria and Serbia under-19 striker Milovanovic and NAC Breda goalkeeper Bielica, who has not played for his country of birth, Poland, at any level, must fight for those crucial points.

The FA awards points based on the ‘Band’ level of their previous leagues, the percentage of domestic minutes they played, and a club’s finishing position.

If a player falls short of the required 15-point threshold, Football League clubs like Pompey must then revert to alternative means. This often leads to them utilising one of their four Elite Significant Contribution (ESC) slots, which are special squad allowances earmarked for foreign talent who do not meet the baseline criteria.

It can all get very complicated very quickly, as you can tell.

Meanwhile, the actual administrative processes involved can take anything from one to three weeks to fully resolve.

Once a club submits the initial GBE application to the FA, a decision is typically received within 24 to 48 hours. Yet the real bottleneck occurs at the second stage, when a UK government visa application is sought.

Like John Mousinho pointed out when speaking about Estonia international Rocco Shein’s move to Fratton Park last week, the player must physically visit a visa application centre, often abroad, as part of this stage of the process.

Here, they submit biometric data, including fingerprints and photographs, with a decision normally reached within three weeks.

But even with clubs paying hefty fees for the Home Office's ‘Priority Service’ or ‘Super Priority Service’, permission to play or link up properly with new team-mates can still take up to five working days.

For Pompey & Co, this administrative lag is a standard cost of doing business globally.

The Blues are paying an initial €3.5m for Milovanovic and €600,000 for Bielica. And with a lot of money at stake, the club cannot afford a legal error by parading a player without a finalised right-to-work check.

The paperwork is being dealt with behind the scenes, and both deals remain firmly on course.

Pompey fans must therefore accept that in today’s game, there’s a lot of hoops to jump through when buying from abroad.

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