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Arsenals lack of English players is a concern but not always the problem it is made out to be. Over the last twenty odd years the full English team has featured Arsenals goal keeper, three defenders, two strikers and the occasional mid fielders. This is better then many teams but perhaps not as good as some others. Granted that Arsenal hold the dubious distinction a few years back of putting out a squad with no British players but they have usually some British and indeed English players featured. Without some sort of law passed at a football level or a national level no club can be forced to feature a set amount of players from any area. These ideas have been considered before but lead to restriction of trade complaints. There are no laws in many other form of business and wont work for football either.

The main complaint is that the international squad wont have enough premiership players to work with, this is a risk but again there is not a problem at the moment. There was a lack of English goalkeepers a few years back but this hasn't been a problem recently. There are around five English players playing for or linked to premiership clubs that could play in goal for England. Similarly its almost unheard of for anyone outside the premiership playing for England except for David Beckham. Countries like Wales have to look through all leagues to find enough players, the squads often have no more then a couple of premiership players. This is a worry that England doesn't have at present. They have looked to the second division in England but usually only if someone is playing for a club recently relegated from the top flight or someone who is an exceptional talent that hasn't made it to the top yet.

While Arsenal have minimal English content some clubs have almost total British content. Indeed before the ill fated reign of Steve Mclarens reign with England he produced a Middlesboroug team of English players only. The team featured players brought in to the team from other squads but a large amount from within the club. Perhaps this is where the problems lie, few clubs develop their own players through academies and reserve teams but prefer to bring in outside talent. Perhaps its worth bearing in mind that England's best player of the moment, Steven Gerrard, is a product of Liverpool's academy and reserve structure. While Arsenal aren't doing anything wrong they could do better to do more for the English game. The football business is just that these days, a business. The teams will do all they can to be the best and to make top profits, perhaps additional benefits for having native players may change their minds.

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