The Number of English Players in Premiership Football

In recent years, a trend has developed where overseas players have become a more cost effective option for English football clubs compared to signing home grown talent. This has led to an influx of foreign players into English football that has affected all four professional divisions.
The number of English players in premiership football has continued to fall significantly every year. The outstanding overseas players who play for premiership clubs surely improve the overall standard of football that is played in England. There is an argument that many foreign players of an average standard do not raise performance or skill levels. In some cases this can have an adverse effect.
Many years ago clubs invested heavily in creating football academies that were designed to nurture young talent. The concern within football circles is that too many foreign players of moderate ability will prevent our own youngsters from developing into professional footballers. This can lead to the appearances of home grown players to be restricted.
Some experts believe that accommodating too many players from overseas may also have a harmful effect on the national side. This particular argument always rears its head whenever England suffers poor results or disappointing tournaments.
There has been much debate on the possible introduction of a quota system that would limit the number of foreign players able to play in each game. This rule would ensure that a certain number of English players would play. There is also the option of a rule that would insist on the inclusion of a certain number of players from the United Kingdom which would include players from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Whether these rules would be legal is not clear at this stage.
Premiership football could point to the fact that large sums of money have been invested in signing overseas talent. Some clubs claim that English players of comparable quality are often priced out of their reach because they are in such short supply which feeds the trend of using the overseas transfer market in search of value for money.