Less than a third of players in this season’s Premier League so far have been English, backing up Gareth Southgate’s warning over his dwindling options.
England manager Southgate admitted last week that “I can’t rule out players in the Championship” – Stoke goalkeeper Jack Butland fits that description in the current squad – “as our pool is getting smaller and smaller”.
And research by Press Association Sport shows that just over 30 per cent of top-flight playing time so far this season has gone to players eligible for the national team.
English options limited
With four games played, the total Premier League playing time available so far is 79,200 minutes excluding stoppage time – 90 minutes each for 22 players in 40 matches.
English players have played for 24,053 minutes, or 30.4 per cent of the overall total.
There have been 250 minutes lost to the nine red cards in the top flight so far. Curiously, seven of those have gone to Englishmen to deprive Southgate of 188 minutes of scouting time – although Leicester’s Jamie Vardy, dismissed against Wolves, has asked not to be considered.
In terms of players selected in a team’s matchday squad, 446 of the 1,440 places available so far have gone to English players – a marginal improvement to 31 per cent. However, a quarter of those English selections – 112 – have been as unused substitutes.
Clarets and Cherries show the way
Southgate acknowledged: “The financial power of the Premier League has a big impact, as does the precarious nature of managers in the top flight.”
It is perhaps no coincidence then that the only two teams to give English players more than 2,000 minutes of football – excluding stoppage time – are Burnley and Bournemouth.
The two teams have well-set and well-respected English managers in Sean Dyche and Eddie Howe, as well as transfer budgets a step down from the teams battling for the title.
The Clarets’ English contingent account for 2,690 minutes, just over two thirds of the playing time available so far, while sixth-placed Bournemouth can boast 2,106 minutes.
Gunners and Chelsea lag behind
The Cherries have used the most English players, 10, while Burnley are joined by Everton and Cardiff in using nine. The four teams have named 11 Englishmen apiece in their matchday squads.
At the other end of the scale, Chelsea have used only two players – Ross Barkley and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, for a combined 172 minutes – while Arsenal have given only 56 minutes in total to Danny Welbeck and Ainsley Maitland-Niles, with Rob Holding yet to step off the substitutes’ bench.
There have been 113 different English players used in this season’s Premier League, with a further 23 named as substitutes but as yet unused. Twenty-five Englishmen have played every minute up to now for their respective teams – four goalkeepers and 21 outfield players.
James Milner, who retired from England duty in 2016, and Vardy are included in the figures, along with several others who have not been selected in several years and a number who have never featured on their country’s radar.
However, the figures do not include dual-nationality players such as Declan Rice, West Ham’s London-born Republic of Ireland defender who would be eligible to switch allegiance.
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