Chelsea's Lampard to Follow Arsenal's Platt, Liverpool's Rush?

The talk of too many foreigners in the English Premier League has been around for a long, long time. I'm not going to bore you with that but look at the situation in reverse.

Why is England the only European country that doesn't continually export it's players?

The way i see it, there is one top class British player playing outside Britain. He is of course, David Beckham at LA Galaxy in the US, via Real Madrid in Spain.

Recently, Michael Owen and Jonathan Woodgate tried their luck at Madrid. I wouldn't say either of them failed but circumstances went against them.

Robbie Keane had a go in Serie A, but again things never really worked out.

Frank Lampard is widely tipped to be the next British export and may follow Jose Mourinho to his next club. That would make it two English internationals abroad!

It's a far cry from the late 80's to mid 90's where top class British talent could be seen at some of the best and biggest clubs the world had to offer.

David Platt (Sampdoria), Ian Rush (Juventus), Trevor Steven (Marseille), Mark Hateley (Monaco), Gary Lineker (Barcelona), Paul Gascoigne (Lazio) and many more.

I admit the English league wasn't as strong back then and British teams were banned from Europe but take out Ian Rush and you have half the England side playing abroad!

Why doesn't it happen anymore?

Big clubs in the UK are happy to buy great players from less glamorous foreign clubs, so why don't European clubs return the favour?

I admit myself I was quite shocked to hear Real Madrid were interested in Scotland International Steven Fletcher and AC Milan's interest in West Ham's George McCartney, but why?

I bet the fans of Villarreal had quite a chuckle when they heard Newcastle United had bid 6.3 million pounds for their diddy left back, Jose Enrique!

Clearly he is nowhere near the consistent standard of McCartney, so what are British clubs playing at?!?

Steve Sidwell could get a game in plenty of Champions League sides across Europe, yet he will choose to sit on the bench for Chelsea before returning to a side with no European ambition. Why?

When Spanish, Italian or German teams sign foreign players the Spanish, Italian or German players pushed out are happy to go and have a crack overseas, so why not the English?

The fact England has the strongest second level in the world (The Coca Cola Championship) must be testament to the fact English players are scared to go abroad. James Beattie may be banging them in for Sheffield United but he could also be banging them in for 80% of Europe's top division sides!

I'd love to play in the Championship but I'm not as good as James Beattie!

People have been emigrating successfully from Britain for hundreds of years, just not the footballers it seems.

England's national team would surely benefit from more English players playing around the world.

Fabio Capello, in fact, must have the least air miles of any top international manager! 

Is it a lack of ambition? Is it about the money? Or have players today just got no sense of adventure?

I can't give you the answers but wouldn't it be great to see British players around the world dominating football?