How to convert ESC successfully: 5 approaches to follow

Including a new plan I hadn't thought of until this week

The longer that we have the ESC system around in the English game the more that we find out about what constitutes good practice, and where clubs might’ve gone wrong in their processes as well.

Just this week I came across a process that I hadn’t seen before around conversion of an ESC player into a GBE, and it instantly crystallized in my head as a tactic that many more clubs, in the Premier League and Championship especially, should be using to convert their ESC players.

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What is ESC conversion and how does it work?

The ESC regulations are there to provide a service for English clubs. If a player doesn’t get a GBE autopass or get 15 GBE points at the time that a club wants to recruit them, then it could be possible that a club can still sign them via the Elite Significant Contribution (ESC) pathway.

For an in-depth reminder on ESC I can direct you to our definitive article on the subject:

Once the player has been registered into an ESC slot the club may well want to convert the player into a full GBE because they want the use of that slot back again.