Brooking concerned over English development

Trevor Brooking, the nation's director of football development, spoke out against the influx of foreign players into the Premier League.

In the long run, Brooking feels the foreign influence cuts down the national team's chances of success. His thoughts come right after it was announced that the Premier League spent a record GBP 531 million on new players, the majority foreign.

"(The national team) has to be under threat – the numbers show that," Brooking told Reuters. "I don't think you can underestimate it. It's a major concern. In 10 years' time you don't want us just being pleased to qualify for tournaments."

Little more than a third of the starters for the 2004-2005 Premier League season were English-born.

Brooking also expressed concern that the younger generation of players would not be developed to their potential, meaning a gap down the road for the national team.

"Will there be first-team opportunities for some of our youngsters between 17 and 21?" Brooking asked. "If you look at Italy when they won the last World Cup, I think they had over 70 percent of their league made up of domestic players. Spain, France, Holland, they're all up there too."

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.