Greg Dyke: We need to keep best Premier League imports

But FA chief wants more places for English talent
Getty
Simon Johnson5 September 2013

Football Association chairman Greg Dyke today insisted he does not want to dilute the Premier League by forcing top foreign players out of the English game.

Dyke has come under scrutiny after launching a campaign yesterday aimed at increasing the amount of home-grown talent playing in the top flight in order to improve the national team’s chances of winning major tournament.

England last reached a major semi-final at Euro 96 and the FA have appointed a commission to look into the problem, including why the amount of English players in the top flight has dropped from 70 per cent to 32 per cent over the past 20 years.

Dyke is aiming to reduce the amount of foreigners plying their trade in England but does not want to chase top talent, such as Manchester United’s Dutch striker Robin van Persie, out of the country.

He told Sky Sports News today: “We don’t want to lose them [top foreigners] and I’m not sure it is a case of asking the Premier League to dilute their own product.

“This is not just a problem of [top clubs such as] Manchester City. You go down the League and it is exactly the same. In the first game of the season between Fulham and Sunderland, there were four English players on the pitch. That was it. These are not sides that are going to be up there challenging for Champions League places.

“You want the best international players to be able to play here. If you talk to fans of particular clubs, they will say they just want the best players at their club but if you look at it overall and from a different perspective, you have to say it isn’t very good for English football to have this many foreign players playing here.

“There are a generation of young boys coming through in this country and I want to know if they’re good enough and if there is a barrier preventing them coming through.

“Going back to 50 per cent of English players in the Premier League doesn’t necessarily mean you will win more tournaments but it gives you a better chance because you have a bigger pool to choose from.

“The point made to me is that foreign players are cheaper to buy and have cheaper wages than most English players. If that’s the case then why is that and what can we do about it? And if so, shouldn’t English players and their agents start accepting that they have to come for those prices?”

The Premier League do not plan to comment on Dyke’s views but are keen to point out that they launched the Elite Player Performance Plan last year, a scheme designed to improve the Academy system.

Meanwhile, Dyke has defended claims he’s a hypocrite after being a director at Manchester United between 1997-99 when only two of the 12 transfers they made were English. Dyke also hired German Uwe Rosler to take charge of Brentford before quitting his role as the League One club’s chairman to join the FA.

He added: “When I was a director of United, I was lucky that during a wonderful period half the youth team came through to play in the first team.

“Manchester United are one of the clubs who have developed young English players for many years. In terms of Brentford, Uwe Rosler played in England for a long time.

“I’m not against foreign managers, I’m just saying that if you’ve got a league which is largely foreign owned, foreign managed and mainly foreign players, you have an issue for English football.”

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