Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez insists it doesn't matter where his young players come from - so long as they're "good".

He told liverpoolfc.tv: "It's important to see that the key to being a Liverpool player is to be good. It doesn't matter if you are English., Spanish or French: you have to be good - that's the first thing. Then if you have to decide between local players and foreign players who have the same quality, you choose the local players.

"It's easier because the local players will clearly have more passion. I have said that I'd be really pleased to have 10 Carras - or maybe five Carras and five Steven Gerrards would be better! But we have to talk about quality first. Look at Arsenal, for 12 or 13 years they have been using foreign players and everyone has been critical. Now they have two or three English players, everyone's saying 'this is fantastic'. But remember the 12 or 13 years. And why did they use foreign players? Because it's a question of quality.

"You know my idea: the academy system all around the country is not producing enough quality. That is a fact."