It’s a fine balancing act, believes Wenger

PREMIER LEAGUE:

England manager Roy Hodgson this week bemoaned the lack of home-grown talent he can actually watch when attending games, echoing the thoughts of assistant coach Gary Neville, who argued the “pathway is blocked” for up-and-coming domestic players by too many foreign imports.

While just under 35 per cent of the players in the top flight are eligible for the England national team compared to almost 60 per cent in Spain, Wenger believes the tide is turning.

“I can understand Roy of course because when you go to games and there is no English players you can complain,” said Wenger, who takes his side to Fulham today looking to cement their place in the top four.

“But you cannot want to be the best league in the world and close the borders, so you have to find a good mixture.

“That is to produce the players from your own academies, and buy top, top, top-class players.”

Wenger continued: “The trend follows the economic strength. When I was (manager) at Monaco, all of the players went to Italy. It was the league you wanted to be in, (Paul) Gascoigne and the best English players went to Italy.

“Maybe Roy is right — a few more would be good, but the trend is changing,” he added.

Meanwhile, Fulham manager Martin Jol is confident Wenger will again lead Arsenal to a top-four finish.

The Frenchman has not enjoyed the best of times this season, leading to talk the Gunners may miss out on a Champions League berth for the first time in his tenure.

However, a run of seven wins from their last nine league games has put them back in the hunt ahead of today’s trip to Craven Cottage.

“I admire him, he is an unbelievable manager,” the Dutchman said of Wenger.

“He is emotional, he wants to win but even this season if you look at them they have been under pressure.

“Then they had an unbelievable win at Bayern, they came back and other teams like Chelsea, Spurs and Everton are fighting for a top-three, top-four spot.

“They are doing it again and I think they will make the top four.”