Revealed: The Premier League reaches an all-time low of English players

• Two-thirds of Premier League players now
foreign nationals
• Only 12 Englishmen bought by top-flight
clubs this summer
• Do you care that clubs are picking fewer
English players?
Roy Hodgson
Getting England to the World Cup is no
easier for Roy Hodgson having so few
Premier League players to select.
Photograph: Michael Mayhew/Sportsphoto/
Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar
Louise Taylor and Mike Adamson
The opening weekend of Premier League
fixtures marked an all-time low in terms of
the number of Englishmen beginning
games at the start of a season. A Guardian
study shows two-thirds of those on view in
the first round of fixtures were foreign
nationals, highlighting the falling number of
homegrown players in the top flight.
Back in August 1992, 177 players, or 73.1%,
featuring in first-day first XIs held English
nationality but this year that figure fell to
75, or 34.1%. This dramatic decrease has
left the Premier League trailing Spain's La
Liga, Germany Bundesliga, Italy's Serie A
and France's Ligue One by some distance
when it comes to showcasing indigenous
talent and, it is argued, has impacted on
the fortunes of England teams at all levels.
Roy Hodgson, the manager of the senior
national team who already face a tough
battle to qualify for the World Cup, can
only be alarmed that of 61 signings made
by top-flight clubs for transfer fees this
summer, a mere 12 have involved English
players. None of last season's top eight has
paid a fee for an English player since the
transfer window opened.
While this is partly attributable to the reality
that imports are appreciably better value
than their high-priced English counterparts,
deficiencies in youth development,
coaching culture and wider education also
all contribute to the failure of England-born
players to make the required grade. Only
three of the 23-man Under-21 squad that
beat Scotland 6-0 last week started in the
Premier League last weekend.
"Everyone recognises the need for greater
numbers of English players getting
opportunities in the Premier League," Sir
Trevor Brooking, the FA's director of
football development, told the Guardian. "It
is something Ged Roddy [the Premier
League's director of youth], Dan Ashworth
[the FA director of elite development] and I
have worked closely on with the EPP [Elite
Player Performance Plan].
"Ged and the Premier League share our
desire to improve upon the quality of young
players coming through the academy
system. Combined with the work in kids'
football to change the culture and increase
technical standards, and raising the
coaching standards through St George's
Park, there is a lot being done."
The FA and Premier League are often seen
as being at loggerheads but a Premier
League spokesman stressed that, as
Roddy's work emphasises, this is not the
case. "We are one season into the Elite
Player Performance Plan for which £340m
has been committed over four seasons to
enhance youth development programmes
across the Premier League," he said.
"The number one stated aim of the plan is
to produce more and better home-grown
players. We saw some very good
performances from English and British
players over the weekend and the clubs are
working hard to develop more who are of
the quality to play Premier League football."
Richard Scudamore, the Premier League's
chief executive, feels that his organisation
have been blamed unfairly for the growing
imbalance in elite English football. No to
mention the dismal failure of the England
Under-21 and Under-20 teams in this
summer's respective junior European
Championship in Israel and World Cup in
Turkey.
"It's not the Premier League's fault the
country's population is only 60 million and
there are 212 countries playing this game,"
said Scudamore last month. "It's bigger
than us."
• This article was amended on 20 August
2013. The original said the number of
English players in the Premier League for
the 2013/14 season was 74, 33.6%. This has
been corrected.