Pearce questions English talent coming through Premiership

England U21 boss Stuart Pearce has questioned the young talent coming through at the Premiership.

Pearce insisted the biggest lesson to learn from England's failure to qualify for Euro 2008 is the shortage of homegrown talent in the Barclays Premier League.

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"There are lessons to be learned, whether we had qualified or not," said Pearce.

"The fact is we need some more good young English players playing in the top league in this country. That would be a big benefit, especially for the job that I do.

"An overview of coaching at a much younger age is certainly a step in the right direction.

"The powers that be need to look at that. For many years now we have not been successful at age group level or with the seniors."

Pearce has no problem with English clubs signing the best players in the world game and believes a strong Premier League directly benefits the national team.

But he is anxious the current set-up does not give English football enough strength in depth.

"The product in this country is arguably as strong as it has ever been," said Pearce.

"The world is a small market-place and freedom of trade enables anyone to come and go as they please. Everyone wants to play in England because it is an exciting league to play in.

"I am a great believer in having a strong national side and having a strong league is very important.

"On any given weekend I always have a keen eye on how many of my under-21 squad are actually featuring in the first 11. My utopia is that all of them feature but that is not always the case."