The Greatest English Premier League Myth Unraveled

The number of foreign players in the Barclays Premier League has been an issue over the last few years with many people suggesting that the amount of foreigners in England was hampering the national team.

I had been inclined to think that way myself until I stumbled on the Inter Milan squad list while researching another article. It was flooded with foreign players and it got me thinking, does England really have too many foreign players and is this actually hampering the national side?

For my research, I took the top four sides (judging by league tables as of the morning of the 7th February 2009) from Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A and England’s Premier League and worked out how many foreigners they had as individual clubs and national leagues. I chose the top four as these are the players likely to be representing each country in next years UEFA Champions League.

The Stats: Italy

Having first got the idea for this article while looking at Inter Milan, I’ll start by looking at Serie A. The current top four in Italy are Inter Milan, AC Milan, Juventus and the surprise package of 2008/2009, Genoa.

Inter Milan’s squad is 75 percent foreign and includes only seven Italians.

AC Milan’s squad is 55 percent foreign.

Juventus’s squad is 56 percent foreign.

Genoa’s squad is 64 percent Italian, with only eight foreign players on their current first team squad.

Overall, the look at this sub section of Serie A shows that 56 percent of players in Italy’s top flight are foreign.

Spain

The top four in Spain is Barcelona, Real Madrid, Sevilla and Valencia.

Barcelona’s squad is 54 percent foreign.

Real Madrid’s squad is 64 percent foreign with only nine Spaniards in the first team.

Sevilla’s squad is 70 percent foreign and they have only eight Spanish players.

Valencia with all their well documented problems have a mainly Spanish squad with only 29 percent of the first team being foreign.

Overall, the look at this sub section of La Liga tells us that 55 percent of players in Spain are foreigners.

England

The top four in England is Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Aston Villa.

Manchester United’s squad is 64 percent foreign.

Liverpool’s squad is 77 percent foreign and only have seven English players in their current first team.

Chelsea’s squad is 80 percent foreign and have only five Englishmen in their top squad.

Aston Villa are 64 percent English and have only nine foreign players.

Overall, the look at this sub section of the Barclays Premier League tells us that 57 percent of players in England are foreign.

Does England really have too many foreign players?

England does have the side with the least amount of domestic players (20 percent) in Chelsea but they are hardly dominating in England right now. Italy’s worst is Inter Milan with only 25 percent of their squad being Italian and they are looking at four league wins in a row. Surely then Italy has more of a problem with foreign imports?

England’s most English squad is Aston Villa according to the stats used and that is on a par with Italy’s most Italian team Genoa at 64 percent. Valencia are even better with 71% of their players born in Spain. Proof that you don’t need a foreign side to be successful.

Aston Villa are holding off Arsenal (a side with virtually no English players) and are proof that Englishman are capable of holding their own against sides full of the worlds best players. In Italy, Genoa are the Villa, holding off the Fiorentina’s and Roma’s of this world with a pretty much Italian squad.

In Spain, Sevilla have as many foreigners as Valencia have Spaniards but Valencia are right there behind them, despite being practically bankrupt.

Therefore, I don’t believe England has any more of a problem than Spain or Italy.

Is the foreign invasion hampering the national side?

There is certainly not enough evidence to say England can't win a major trophy because of the foreigners in the Premier League.

Spain are European Champions and have a league with just 2 percent less foreigners across their top clubs.

Italy are the World Champions and have a league with just 1 percent less foreigners amongst their top four sides.

The above totally blows any such claims by the English out of the water.

Whatever/ whoever is to blame for England’s failure to qualify for EURO 2008, it simply isn’t too many non English players in the Premier League but I do believe that it could be the fact England has only one player in Italy or Spain (David Beckham) while top Spanish and Italian players ply their trades in England and Spain or Italy showing their diversity and ability to adapt.

It appears England players need to get out more as it is no surprise England’s greatest global triumph wasn’t global at all, it happened in their own back yard.