David James has lauded his replacement in the England team, Joe Hart, but admits there is a dearth of home-grown goalkeepers in the game at present. The 40 year old holds the record for the most Premier League appearances after 18 seasons at the top level but now plays for ChampionshipBristol City.

He has since lost his place in the national side to the talented and much younger Hart - who is just 23 - but James acknowledges his replacement is rightly the country's No.1.

"If you look at what England has produced goalkeeper-wise in that time, I'll be honest with you, I'm 40 years of age now and there should have been a lot more players for that position," he told The Times.

"In 15 years we should have produced a plethora of goalkeepers who could dominate the Premier League.

"If I wanted to be boastful and I had done super-duper-well, I could say that, but, if you look at what England has produced, it's not enough when you consider that we had this reputation back in the 70s and 80s where English goalkeepers were the iconic goalkeepers of the world.

"There really should have been a big surge in English talent, but, although the approach has been good, there has been a fault with production."

He added: "That might sound derogatory towards the English goalkeepers who are playing, but it's not what I mean.

"I think Joe Hart is fantastic and I've got a lot of time for him. I don't like losing positions, but when I look at the person who has taken over, he deserves it because he's got everything.

"But it would be nice to be able to say there were eight really good English goalkeepers challenging Joe and I don't think that is the case at the moment.

"That all adds to the frustration of where goalkeeping is concerned."