Gareth Southgate announced his England squad for the upcoming European Championship qualities with a pessimistic undertone.
The England manager bemoaned the diminishing pool of English talent in the Premier League, and illustrated his point with the fact that on a recent Premier League weekend, only 28 per cent of the players starting matches were eligible for the Three Lions.
The remedy, Southgate added, would be found by 'looking in the Championship or elsewhere', with the manager citing the fact that England rarely exports players in great numbers.
Be that as it may, there are a number of high-quality players starting in Europe's top leagues that might react with a raised-eyebrow to Southgate's downcast health check on the state of young English prospects.