Coppell: Wenger is hurting English football

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Coppell claims Wenger's reliance on foreigners is "dangerous" for the long-term health of English football.

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Worried: Coppell has his concerns about Wenger's policies

The Reading manager is the latest Premier League boss to single out the Frenchman over the lack of home-grown players in his Arsenal side.

Earlier in the week, Sir Alex Ferguson endorsed FIFA's plans to limit the number of foreign players in Premier League teams and suggested Arsenal would "protest the loudest" against it.

Ferguson's view was echoed by Coppell, whose side host Arsenal on Monday night, even though the former Crystal Palace boss has benefited from Wenger's English cast-offs in recent years, through players like midfielders James Harper and Steve Sidwell.

"I just think long term it is a dangerous game," said Coppell.

"I admire so much the football they [Arsenal] play, it is most pleasing on the eye, but you would hope that, given the fact that he (Wenger) has been there 10 years, he could create English players who could play that way.

"That would obviously enhance the national team."

Coppell firmly believes the current system needs to be addressed, highlighting the amount of talented youngsters discarded by big clubs in recent years.

"It's a cottage industry," he said. "The ones not good enough for the first team are very profitable byproducts and are sold on.

"It has been of benefit to us but I always have one eye on the English national team and I think there should be a number of English players in every squad, every Saturday — we are in the English Premier League after all.

"You would have to start with a really low number. It is sad to see but one is a fairly regular number of English players in teams.

"It is inevitable that this is going to affect the England team over a number of years."