Premier League foreign legion ruining England: Cantona

Former Manchester United star Eric Cantona claims the vast numbers of foreign players in the Premier League could lead to England failing to qualify for the World Cup in future.

Cantona was a trailblazer for foreign stars in England as he spent five hugely successful seasons with United and Leeds.

The French forward won the title with Leeds before moving to Old Trafford in 1992, where he proved the inspiration behind United’s first championship for 26 years and the club’s subsequent run of success.

But Cantona was one of only 12 overseas players in the Premier League at the start of the 1992-93 season, whereas now homegrown stars are easily outnumbered by foreigners.

Young English players often find their path to first-team action blocked by big-money signings from abroad and that has left England coach Fabio Capello with a shrinking group of players from which to select his squads.

England’s poor performance at the World Cup underlined the problem and Cantona fears it could get even worse.

“Now, even the small teams, they have so many foreigners. Capello would once have had hundreds of players he could choose, but now how many English players play in the Premier League?” he told the Daily Telegraph.

“If it keeps going, in 10 years time it will be very, very difficult. I’m sure England will not qualify for the European Championship or the World Cup, because you need to have players who play at the highest level so you have to be careful.

“England have good players from the last generation, but they need to have very good young players and why don’t they have good young players?

“You still have the old generation, like (Steven])Gerrard and these kind of players. When they were young, there were not so many foreigners.

“Now Liverpool or Arsenal have 11 foreign players, so where are the young English players? Arsenal and Liverpool never play with English players!

“These kind of teams need to work on young players – it’s very important for England, for the national team.”

New regulations introduced this season demand that Premier League clubs include at least eight home-grown players, who must have been registered by the club for three seasons prior to his 21st birthday, among in a 25-man squad.

But Cantona believes only a more strict cap on foreign signings will stop the England team spiralling into a prolonged period of abject failure.

“Yes, (a cap) is important,” he said. “You can have foreign players; but three, four or five.

“You must also have good, young English players because they will play with great foreign players and improve with them.

“They will have a chance to play with the first team and they will play to win the Premier League; big games with a lot of pressure, they will play in Europe and they will have experience of the game.”