About £40 million is invested every year into the 40 club academies in England. State-of-the-art facilities are commonplace; Arsenal’s alone cost £2.5 million. In the decade since Howard Wilkinson’s “Charter for Quality” was launched with the intention of mapping out the path to success, investment in the nation’s youth structure has been about £300 million.

And yet, if you looked at the 220 players starting in the Barclays Premiership on an average weekend, you will see only 25-30 Englishmen of 23 or less. Everton did not start with a single one on New Year’s Day. Chelsea do not have one in their squad.