Camden New Journal - Sports: Crisis in English football? Blame Arsenal

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Camden New Journal - By TOM FOOT
Published: 1 May 2008

Crisis in English football? Blame Arsenal

Italian coach Donadoni criticises Wenger for failing to nurture homegrown talent

THE head coach of world champions Italy has criticised Arsene Wenger for not fielding enough English players.
Roberto Donadoni, who won five league titles and three European cups playing for AC Milan, told the New Journal: “Arsenal are the problem. I like the way Arsenal play but I do not like the way they do not have any English players.”
He called for football’s governing bodies to impose a “homegrown rule” on European clubs, capping the number of foreign players available to managers.
Donadoni, who was a special guest at a sports lecture at Birkbeck College, in Bloomsbury, on Monday, said: “At the moment just 38 per cent of players in the Premiership are English. In Serie A, 70 per cent are Italian. I think it would be difficult to enforce because of European rules about the freedom of movement over boundaries. But I am in favour of the idea of a homegrown rule.”
With England failing to qualify for this year’s European Championships, Wenger has been criticised for failing to nurture homegrown talent. But Donadoni, renowned for his pace and technique as a midfielder in Milan’s famous 1980s and 1990s team, said English football had “improved enormously” over the past five years.
He said: “There are some wonderful footballing cultures in the English game, especially at clubs like Arsenal.
“At Arsenal there is an emphasis on technical ability, which I think the rest of football is losing sight of.
“I watch a lot of English football and I have learnt a lot.
“English football has improved enormously in the last five years, technically speaking.”
With the threat of a hostile takeover bid from Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov hanging over the Arsenal board, and with English clubs increasingly being taken over by foreign ownerships, Donadoni also added his opinions about the business side of the beautiful game.
He added: “Business is business but clubs must think about what best for the sport.”

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