SAM WARNING
I’ll have no choice but to pick reserve players for my England team
SAM ALLARDYCE has admitted he will have to dig into the Premier League’s reserve players in his quest to turn around England’s fortunes.
A lack of English talent starring in the top flight promises to give the new manager a real headache just a month before his first competitive match.
Allardyce’s task has instantly been made harder by James Milner’s hint that he may quit international football.
The manager accepts that the relatively small pool of English talent — just 34 per cent of Premier League players are eligible for England — means he won’t be able to disregard players struggling to get a game for their club side.
‘I think you have to select players who aren’t playing for their clubs,’ he said.
Last season, in a further illustration of the problem facing Roy Hodgson’s successor, only 59 players eligible for England made more than 20 Premier League starts.
One of those, Milner, will seek to meet Allardyce to decide whether it is worth continuing with England as the manager approaches his first World Cup qualifier in Slovakia on September 4.
‘I talked to Roy many times about the fact you are often picking fringe players as well as regulars,’ said Allardyce. ‘That goes without saying now when you’ve only got 34 per cent, but I also understand the pressures of being a Premier League manager.
‘One of the hard bits is having the smallest available pool of English players ever.’
Milner, now 30, played only five minutes for England at the Euros as a late substitute in the 1-1 draw against Russia.