Manchester City chairman Thaksin Shinawatra insists his team will always boast an English core.

"Every owner of a Premier League club has a duty to play Englishmen in his team," he told the Daily Mail.

"We won the Youth Cup this season and I am very proud of the young men (he reels off at least six names and descriptions of players who may soon appear in the City first-team squad) and the staff there, like the academy director Jim Cassell.

"There should be at least five English at the core of every team. We are the English Premier League."