England U21 boss Stuart Pearce is disappointed with the young English talent coming through at the Premiership's big four - Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal.

"The one thing that hit home to me was sitting down and looking at the fixtures and how many players under 21 that were worth me going to watch," said Pearce.

"The numbers aren't very big. Is it worth me going to see Liverpool? No. There's no-one on show. Chelsea? No-one on show. Manchester United?

"Most of the players that we have in the squad come from Manchester City, Middlesbrough, Aston Villa and Newcastle. Those four sides contribute a hell of a lot to the side we can have."

Pearce's latest squad start their qualifying campaign with matches in Montenegro and Bulgaria over the next week, beginning with the clash in Podgorica on Friday.

As the full-time coach with wider responsibilities for youth football, Pearce is also aware of addressing the problem of getting more top-level youngsters playing regularly.

"It's important that we are aware of the fact that we need to push as many English players as we can. Not just here and now but for the future," he added.

"I would like to say that there are three players in every team worth going to watch. That would be utopia for me doing this job.

"From Steve McClaren's point of view he would like five from every side in an ideal world, but we have to be aware there might be a problem in the future."