THE FUTURE OF THE ENGLISH NATIONAL TEAM

The current Premier League is awash with an array of foreign imported players of whom some are world class and some, it has to be said, are distinctly average. Many teams in the higher reaches of English football now field starting XI's which contain a high percentage of overseas players and the argument is this can only be damaging to the future of the English National Team. It is valid that the arrival of, for example, a Gianfranco Zola or a Robin Van Persie can only be good for young professionals as they will learn form the experience these stars quite obviously have/had in abundance but for every Zola or Bergkamp their is a (censored - every fan can insert their own name here) who came to the English game and flopped.

Soccer Intelligence asks why are young English player's not getting many opportunities in the Premier League and what can be done to improve their chances? By young we mean under 21, the future of the English National Team and in turn the future of the Premier League.

The last England under 21's match was on the 14th November 2011 when they lost to Belgium and as the below shows only seven of the starting XI have played in the Premier League with only Lowe, Kelly, Dawson and Henderson being regular starters in England's top division.

England under 21's starting XI 

NAME                      CLUB                  PREMIER LEAGUE           
JACK BUTLAND              BIRMINGHAM CITY*      NO 
ADAM SMITH                TOTTENHAM HOSTPUR*    NO
NATHANIEL CLYNE           CRYSTAL PALACE        NO
JASON LOWE                BLACKBURN ROVERS      YES
MARTIN KELLY              LIVERPOOL             YES
CRAIG DAWSON              WEST BROMWICH ALBION  YES  
ALEX OXLADE CHAMBERLAIN   ARSENAL               YES
JORDAN HENDERSON          LIVERPOOL             YES
MARVIN SORDELL            WATFORD               NO
JOSH McEACHRAN            CHELSEA*              YES
SAMMY AMEOBIA             NEWCASTLE UNITED      YES 
*denotes currently on loan 

Many Chelsea fans have hailed creative midfielder Josh McEachran as a fantastic talent but first team opportunities have been minimal for him at Stamford Bridge. So much so he has recently joined Swansea City on loan which can only benefit himself and his parent club in the long run but surely he should be given a chance by Chelsea.

So what can be done to improve young English player's chances? At present not much, it seems as if the way forward is to go out on loan in the lower leagues to gain experience.

There are arguments about a young player being used too much and over-hyped. Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, for example, looks to have a great future in the game but at just 18 years of age and with only a few first team appearance for The Gunners there is talk of including him in the Euro 2012 squad. Is this shades of Theo Walcottt and his ill fated inclusion in Sven's World Cup squad of 2006?

There needs to be a balance and SI thinks this is to keep the Under 21 players in the Under 21 squad until they are 21. This gives them a good grounding and will not put them in at the deep in end in the full senior squad which in my opinion will hamper their progress.