Cut the foreign stars, ministers tell soccer clubs

They fear too many home-grown players are being squeezed out of topflight clubs - and that this is damaging the England team.

Just 28 of 105 new players bought by Premier League clubs this summer for £362.5million are English. Arsenal have signed four new players, Liverpool, eight, Manchester City, seven, Blackburn, three, and Reading, two - but none is English.

An EU white paper on sport published last month suggested a system of quotas for home-grown players in squads.

But ministers are veering towards putting pressure on clubs to focus more on developing and selecting home-grown footballers rather than bringing in new rules.

Just 11 foreigners were playing in the Premier League in 1992 but now there are more than 300 overseas footballers from 66 different countries.

Critics say foreign players are keeping out English talents and limiting the selection pool for the national team.

Many supporters and MPs would back moves by new Culture Secretary James Purnell and Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe - both avid fans and players - to encourage clubs to select more English players.

The ministers also believe far more needs to be done in schools to help talented footballers develop skills and to build better links with clubs.

Labour MP Alan Simpson, who plays for the parliamentary football team, called for clubs to have to pay a percentage of players' "bingo number" wages towards improving academies to fund them.

Football bosses argue that overseas talents such as Didier Drogba, Thierry Henry and Cesc Fabregas have raised standards in the English game.

The Premier League said it was in the interest of clubs to focus on developing players through academies because it would save on having to pay huge sums to buy stars later on.

"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," said spokesman Dan Johnson.

Former sports minister Richard Cabornwas a key figure in plans for a new EU-wide system to govern football.

The plans were opposed by Downing Street over fears Brussels could win more say over how UK soccer is run and have since rejected a wage cap.

The white paper, though, says quotas on home-grown players could comply with EU regulations. It also suggests EU-wide rules on agents and betting, tougher anti-racism measures and banning thugs from stadia across the EU.