I fully agree with mintox’ comments on the difference in ‘footballing styles’ A lot of English players with a defensive role could probably succesfully move abroad (but the premiership is one of the best and richest leagues in the world, and the money starts coming in a lot sooner in players’ carreers, so why should they?), but most offensive players are used to the space on the opposing half that is created by the blistering pace English football is known for. If sides from other competitions have the physical and positional ability to keep space tight on their own half, ‘English style’ teams usually start to struggle. (Remember Gattuso and Pirlo pretty much killing every rapid forward movement Man U’s midfield tried to make at San Siro last year?). Spanish and Italian sides on the other hand, generally have a much slower build up and are used to having the ball pass by a large number of players on the opponent’s half. When they spot or create an opening in the defense camping out on the edge of the penalty area, they create opportunities by quickly accelerating ball circulation in very limited spaces. There simply aren’t a lot of English offensive midfielders and strikers who are used or taught to attack this way.

However I think that there is a definite difference in English footballing style which is played at pace and thus with less emphasis on using the technical skill that the players have. A kid brought up in Italy or South America etc are brought up constanly playing the type of games in training that build up their ability to hold the ball under pressure as a team and move the ball under pressure, to do so the game has to be slowed down. If you’ve ever watched an Italian football match (as boring as they can sometimes be), there is a lot of quick interplay between players in very confined spaces, even watching the Argentinian team can show you how much work their players do in moving off the ball and how they keep the ball moving at all times.

This is something that English youngsters I beleive have had less practice at and why they are less desirable to foreign managers. English youngsters are bred for English football and though some might do well overseas, I think many would struggle to adapt to the foreign leagues. You only need to look at the last world cup to see that England struggled to break down teams that packed 10 men behind the ball (a legitimate tactic even though you might complain). Their inability to move the ball into tight spaces and keep control of it in tight spaces meant that they ran out of ideas quickly and resorted in the end to route one football or trying to bring it down the wings only for poor crosses to be put into the box.

Until english youngsters are comfortable at playing under pressure in tight spaces and moving the ball around in such situations they will never prosper in other countries.

The top players are an exception as the cream always rises to the top but how many other players would you back to make it overseas?