FA CRITICISE LIVERPOOL ON SIGNING FOREIGN YOUNGSTERS

FA director of football development Sir Trevor Brooking has hit out at Liverpool for signing so many foreign youngsters.

He believes that Liverpool along with the other big clubs in the Premier League, are preventing the development of English youngsters that are trying to break through the ranks.

Brooking said: "75 per cent of players in the scholarship age groups at Liverpool now are from overseas. So if only 25 per cent of them are English then it's not helpful for us.

"With a lot more overseas youngsters coming into our academies then it is likely they will slowly filter down into the lower leagues when they leave their clubs.

"There is a danger then that we could see a Football League with a large number of foreign players who haven't quite been good enough for the Premier League.

"They could stop our English youngsters from developing and we could even see fans switching off from the game because there are not enough of their own local players coming through at their clubs.

"So I think that is something we really need to reverse the trend on if we are going to improve our English kids in the long term."