England's talent pool is diminishing at an alarming rate and an all star Premier League XI proves it


As the nation breathes a sigh of relief over the return of the Premier League this weekend following ten days of international football, Gareth Southgate will begin to experience the headache that has troubled every England manager since the turn of the century.
The Premier League may quite rightly sell itself as the most exciting and unpredictable league in the world, but for Southgate, it is football’s version of ever decreasing circles.
As the 46-year-old interim manager explained followed Tuesday’s 0-0 draw against Slovenia in Ljubljana, the pool of players available to England has now diminished at such an alarming rate that the squad he named for the recent World Cup qualifiers is pretty much it – there is no crop of alternative talent waiting to harvested.
“I’m not sure how many players out there who are playing in the league,” Southgate said. “Whoever picks the squad – everybody would pick something slightly different – I bet 19 or 20 names would be the same, maybe more.
“So I think we’ve got to have some reality on that.”
That reality is nothing new. The English talent available to the England manager is decreasing year-on-year in the Premier League.
But while the quantity is reducing, so too is the quality and that is the major concern for Southgate and those within St George’s Park charged with making England competitive once again.
In Spain, Italy, France and Germany, an all-star team built from the domestic leagues would still be heavily dominated by home-grown players.
But how many Englishmen would find their way into a Premier League XI?
GOALKEEPER:
(Getty Images)
Joe Hart’s loan move from Manchester City to Torino rules the England number one out of the running in the battle for the goalkeeper jersey in the Premier League XI, but it is difficult to state a case for his understudies Fraser Forster and Tom Heaton.
Too many top-class ‘keepers are ahead of Forster and Heaton by virtue of their involvement in the Champions League and Europa League, with Hugo Lloris and David de Gea the two ‘keepers displaying the most consistent form, for Tottenham and Manchester United respectively, over recent months.
England's struggles in front of goal are Southgate's biggest problem

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