Ministers want more British players

As the eagerly anticipated Premier League football season kicks off today, clubs are coming under pressure from ministers to increase the number of home-grown players, amid fears that the English national side is suffering from the dominance of foreigners in domestic teams.

James Purnell, the Culture Secretary and an Arsenal supporter, has indicated that he wants clubs to devote more money, time and effort to nurturing talented young British footballers, rather than filling their squads with overseas stars. Mr Purnell has privately conveyed to the football authorities his dismay at the way some clubs are failing to encourage domestic talent as they spend huge television revenues.

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It is the first time a Cabinet minister has made clear his disapproval of the preference of football's big spenders for shopping abroad in the pursuit of honours. Previous suggestions of an EU-wide system for governing football, including quotas on foreign players, as well as caps on salaries and controls over transfers, were supported by the former sports minister Richard Caborn. But they were ruled out by Downing Street, which said it was hostile to Brussels having any influence over Britain's national sport.

But, in the meantime the trend for foreign acquisitions has accelerated. This season, Liverpool have so far signed 11 foreign players, Manchester City at least eight, Bolton seven, Manchester United four and Arsenal four. The transfer window will only close at the end of the month.

At least half the players taking the field in the Premier League this weekend are likely to be from abroad. More than 330 overseas players from 66 countries are registered to the 20 Premier League clubs, compared with 280 last season. For the first time, more than half the players in first-team squads are foreign.

When the League was launched 15 years ago, just 11 foreigners were registered to play in England.

The trend is also reflected in lower leagues as teams hunt for cheap foreign players to build promotion-winning sides.

Critics fear that the continuing influx at all levels is contributing to England's under-performance on the international stage. Although the English Premiership is considered one of the strongest in the world, the national team was knocked out in the quarter-finals of both last year's World Cup and of the 2004 European Championships. It is now 41 years since England won the World Cup.

The European Union has suggested that clubs consider imposing quotas for domestic players, in a similar way to the English cricket set-up. But such a move could amount to a restriction of trade and the Government is urging football clubs and the sport's governing bodies to sort out the problem for themselves.

However, the Government's latest intervention suggests it could be prepared to act if major clubs become increasingly dominated by foreign talent.

Mr Purnell and the Sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe, a fan of Manchester United and the League Two club Bradford City, are also backing moves for greater co-operation between schools, youth teams and the footballing authorities to enable gifted youngsters to be discovered.

A source at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said: "On occasion, clubs are scouring Europe for that wonder-kid who is 11 or 12. We want better systems in place to find the potential talent that is in this country already."

Mr Purnell met the Football Association and other sports governing bodies recently to discuss ways of improving the co-ordination between competitive sports for young people at local, regional and national levels.

Some clubs argue that the presence of foreign stars such as Didier Drogba and Carlos Tevez is driving up standards in the English game. They also believe that steady increases in attendances are linked to the arrival of world stars on the domestic stage. They insist that the increasingly international flavour of English football is a symptom of the sport's globalisation, with five Premier League clubs managed by foreigners and nearly half with overseas owners.

The Premier League said it was in the clubs' interests to develop young players through their youth teams in order to avoid paying large sums of money in the transfer markets. Dan Johnson, a League spokesman, said: "Every club would like as many locally developed players as possible but they also want the best players, which is what the fans want as well."

An EUWhite Paper suggests quotas on foreign players could be made to fit with regulations on free access to the labour market within the union. It also calls for curbs on the activities of football agents, as well as tougher action against racism in the game and EU-wide bans on hooligans.