In a nutshell.
Sign a player before his 18th birthday, and he will be homegrown. Sign a player on or after his 18th birthday from abroad, and he will not be considered homegrown.
I'm in my 4th season as Crewe, in the summer of 2015 and its no longer allowing me to negotiate contracts past 2018. Has anyone else encountered an issue like this?
Signed him for United in 11.2 and at the age of 18 he looked like he had the potential to be world class. However, at the age of 22 he had barely improved and i flogged him off to some team in Lower League Spain