Manchester City will either need to sign more British footballers or operate with a smaller squad next season as their shortage of homegrown players has worsened with the news James Milner will join Liverpool.
Milner's forthcoming move to Anfield, together with the departures of Frank Lampard to New York City FC and Dedryck Boyata to Celtic, as well as Scott Sinclair's loan to Aston Villa being made permanent, means City only have two regulars in their squad who qualify as homegrown.
Only goalkeeper Joe Hart and French left-back Gael Clichy -- thanks to his formative years at Arsenal -- meet the definition of homegrown, so if City do not recruit any others they could have a senior squad of just 19 players next season.
The only other homegrown players over 21 on their books are Micah Richards, who will leave in the summer when his contract expires, and the 37-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Richard Wright, who has never made a first-team appearance in his three years at the club.
City have already filled all 17 places for non-homegrown players in their 25-man Premier League squad, meaning that if they sign any more foreigners who do not qualify as homegrown, they will have to either sell or omit some from the squads they register for domestic and European competitions, thus rendering them ineligible.
Stevan Jovetic, who has attracted interest from Serie A clubs, and Edin Dzeko, who was urged to join Roma by his Bosnia teammate Miralem Pjanic, are candidates to go.
Montenegro international Jovetic was omitted from City's Champions League squad for this season's knockout rounds, when they were only permitted 16 non-homegrown players as part of their punishment for breaching financial fair play.
City are thought to be interested in Liverpool's Raheem Sterling and looked at British left-backs, including Tottenham's Danny Rose, earlier this season, while they have monitored Southampton forward Jay Rodriguez.
But City have only signed one homegrown player, Lampard, during Manuel Pellegrini's two-year reign.
Besides Milner, Richards and Sinclair, they have parted company with six other experienced British players over the last three years, with Gareth Barry, Joleon Lescott, Jack Rodwell, Adam Johnson, Stuart Taylor and Wayne Bridge all departing.
In addition to a maximum of 25 players in their Premier League and Champions League squads, at least eight of whom must qualify as homegrown, clubs are permitted to name an unlimited number of under-21 players.
The Belgian defender Jason Denayer, 19, is expected to take over from Boyata as fourth-choice centre-back, while City have several other players in their Elite Development Squad who they hope will progress to the first team and who, when they are over 21, will qualify as homegrown.
However, Pellegrini has shown a reluctance to pick them so far and forward Jose Angel Pozo was the only youngster to make a competitive appearance for City last season.
Manchester City's 17 non-homegrown players: Willy Caballero, Pablo Zabaleta, Bacary Sagna, Vincent Kompany, Martin Demichelis, Eliaquim Mangala, Aleksandar Kolarov, Fernando, Fernandinho, Yaya Toure, David Silva, Samir Nasri, Jesus Navas, Stevan Jovetic, Edin Dzeko, Sergio Aguero, Wilfried Bony.