Tuchel: There are fewer and fewer English players in the Premier League now, I hope the more the better

 11:46am, 11 October 2025

Tuchel recently accepted an interview with the media. He urgently hopes that more English players will appear in the Premier League because the proportion of local players in the Premier League has fallen to a record low.

So far this season, less than a quarter of the Premier League starting players are eligible to play for the Three Lions. This astonishing 23.2% figure has dropped significantly from the 30% to 33% rate during Southgate's coaching period, which was already the lowest level in history.

Faced with this record-breaking statistic, England coach Tuchel said: "I have noticed this problem. I hope to see more English players. The more the better, but I come from the field of club football and understand that no one will deliberately suppress player development."

"As long as the players have the quality, they will definitely be able to play. They need to fight for a position for themselves, and they are indeed working hard. Their talent will eventually find a way out."

Former coach Southgate often expressed concern about the continued shrinking of the available talent pool, and now the situation seems to be getting more serious. Before the World Cup qualifier against Latvia, Tuchel pointed out that he does have a core of players playing in overseas leagues, but even if these players all return to the Premier League, the overall ratio will still be embarrassingly low.

Tuchel said: "Don't forget that we have Bellingham, Kane, Tomori and Cheek who are playing overseas. We also have influential players in the French league. We have enough players who can compete in high-level events."

Although England previously defeated Wales 3-0, Tuchel still faces selection problems. He did not call up Bellingham, Foden and Grealish on this international match day. He insisted on explaining this: "I always think that the players in the last training camp deserve to be given the opportunity to continue. They once again showed a wonderful performance against Wales, but the door to the national team is always open to everyone."

Southgate, who left after the 2024 European Cup, has repeatedly expressed concerns about the lack of local players in the Premier League. In 2023, Southgate pointed out: "Data is data. This ratio has not improved. When I took over It was 35%, it was 38% in previous years, and it is now around 32% - the trend line is clear, there is no doubt about it. "

"We are currently far behind France and Spain in this data. What is more noteworthy is that Brazil, which has a strong domestic league, has now equaled or even surpassed England in the number of players participating in the Champions League. This is very worth pondering.Mini-game recommendations:Coach Escape