Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc admits England are outdoing Germany on youth development.
Zorc believes that the Three Lions' kids – and academy set-ups over here – are better than those in Germany.
Zorc, whose Dortmund side face Tottenham in a Champions League last 16 first leg at Wembley on Wednesday, said: “You can see it in the results. The English teams are reaching more Under-17, Under-19 finals compared to the German ones. It seems that they overtook us."
Zorc added: “Let's go back 10 years. There was a time that English clubs signed German players.
“There was a lot of talk here, 'It's all about money, too early for them to go to England.' But now we have the feeling that, 'Yeah, the education and development of players in the English academies is quite good, to be honest.'
“When you see these youth academies, for example Man City, it's much higher than German standards.
“I just read a figure of Man City — they've sold young players for more than £150million within the last five years."
