Uefa european u19 championships - Distinct lack of english players.
Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 11:24 amThe UEFA European U19 Championships starts today and i was intersted to see if any Liverpool players figure in the England squad- the quick answer to this is 'NO!'- nor in the U21s, U18s, U17s or even the U16s. In fact outside the England first team- where we only had Gerrard in the squad (now that Crouch has gone) we only have David Raven in the U20s representing Liverpool.
I understand (although don't agree with) the whole "we don't want our players to play for their country" line of thought; however, if our players were good enough they would be in the squad anyway which leads me to think we don't have any young English players good enough to play for England other than Raven.
Lately we have seen Benitez buy more and more foreign youngsters, which again i don't disagree with but why are we no longer bringing players through the ranks? Surely Liverpool as a city still breeds players of international level- in fact Everton had 5 players in the same youth squads so why do we have only one?
I understand (although don't agree with) the whole "we don't want our players to play for their country" line of thought; however, if our players were good enough they would be in the squad anyway which leads me to think we don't have any young English players good enough to play for England other than Raven.
Lately we have seen Benitez buy more and more foreign youngsters, which again i don't disagree with but why are we no longer bringing players through the ranks? Surely Liverpool as a city still breeds players of international level- in fact Everton had 5 players in the same youth squads so why do we have only one?
