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Roy Hodgson says England youngsters should try their luck overseas in future

Image: Roy Hodgson: England's younger players may have to go overseas

Roy Hodgson feels future generations of England stars would benefit from going overseas rather than being bit-part players at home.

Where Premier League clubs regularly import stars from around the world, it is much rarer to see England players leaving the country and plying their trade abroad.

Chelsea and Manchester City send some of their younger players to feeder clubs, most recently the Blues sending Josh McEachran to Vitesse Arnhem on loan for the season, and Hodgson is convinced more players would benefit from doing something similar.

"We are going to have to accept that some young players - who I think are good enough and can win games for England - will not always be first choice for their teams in England," Hodgson told thefa.com.

“With England we had a very young side at the World Cup and could be even younger going forward.

It wouldn't hurt them at all to go abroad. Most of our players, although they don't all play regularly, play at very good clubs at a very high level.
Roy Hodgson

"It wouldn't hurt them at all to go abroad. Most of our players, although they don't all play regularly, play at very good clubs at a very high level.

"If you are asking me would it be better for some of our players to be playing in good teams abroad rather than warming the bench, then of course as a national team manager I would like to see that.

"It is not my job to tell players what to do but I would think that, if the opening was there for players to go abroad, then a lot of them would take it.

“In my days in Sweden, where the season runs from April to October, a lot of English players used to go out there and play in the summer. But that doesn’t seem to happen anymore.”

But Hodgson stopped short of calling for a quota system restricting the number of foreign players each Premier League team can start

“National team managers would welcome anything that would protect their players from foreign player invasion but whether the Premier League or the Bundesliga will bring in rules that restrict foreigners then I’m not sure,” he added.

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