Everton chief executive Robert Elstone has launched a defence of the Premier League in the wake of the debate around youth development in England. He said: "The Premier League has created the perfect environment to develop world-class players, a research and development laboratory with maximum stress testing and the potential for true Darwinian outcomes.
"It is the political capital leveraged by the revelation that 'only' 30 per cent of total minutes played in the Premier League is English that has moved me to write. How many great players do we actually need to win a World Cup?
"The Belgians might do it with fifteen? 30 per cent is actually quite a big number when you consider they're playing in the most demanding league in the world. Maybe it's time to think quality and not quantity?"
