Amongst all the talk these past weeks surrounding player nationalities within the Premier League, one point seems to have been lost on all the scribes. Here we are with the world's most exciting league, graced by some of the best global practitioners of the art, with the most passionate supporters and a heritage in the game that invokes envy in every other footballing superpower nation bar none. So what is our beef?

The French have a better national team than us. So do the Italians. The Spanish (a national side with such recurringly poor performances in major championships, that you can set your clock by them - "oh Spain have buggered up, must be a major footballing championship year") look like a team that are going places.

Holland (perennial underachievers as a footballing nation due to their national psychosis regarding penalty shootouts, even out-Englanding England on this particular front) have numerous young players of a high technical ability plying their trade in all the top leagues throughout Europe. And herein lies the crux of of our argument. Where are the English players plying their trade succesfully abroad?

'I suspect there are a lot of French sides who would be over the moon to accept a young English player with Premier League aspirations, if only for a season or two'


The Premier League is the best league to play in, but casting all economic reasons aside and reminding the reader that every kid in the world dreams of appearing in this truly global league, the question remains: What makes a homegrown player think that he is worthy of a place in this global elite?

Because he has played in a competitive top level league like the Ligue 1 or the Bundesliga? No. Because he has experience of European football from finishing in the top four in the Eredivisie? No. Or even because he has the experience of a totally different footballing style and culture like Serie B or Division Two in Spain? No. These are all the qualities that most of the foreign youngsters in the Premier League bring to the table - it is unfair and downright blinkered to expect that, barring a handful of gifted youngsters, our youth can even expect to compete against those players with such rounded CVs.

So it begs the question; what stops our youth from seeking the aforementioned skills, namely European football, an exposure to a different style of football and in all probability a higher level of technical skill by scouring for employment in some of the European leagues?

We are not talking about youth academies, we are talking about players who have served their apprenticeships and are old enough to spend a couple of years abroad honing and expanding their skills. I suspect there are a lot of French sides who would be over the moon to accept a young English player with Premier League aspirations, if only for a season or two.

In a bid to keep their young players participating in competitive games, major clubs like Arsene Wenger's Arsenal have turned to the loan deal - an arrangement that has served both player and club well in many cases. However, why do we insist on farming out the majority of these players to Championship sides? Surely better to have them hop across the channel and play for a Ligue 1side?

Is it a cultural thing, or do our youth believe they have a birthright to a position in a Premier League side?