Where’s the local talent?

THIS season only 32.9 per cent of players starting Barclays Premier League games have been English — the second lowest since 1992-93. To highlight the fact, if Jordan Rossiter does not appear for Liverpool this evening at Old Trafford, there will be no local players involved. The only Scouser will be Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney and the last time there was only one Liverpudlian in the derby was 1992, when the Reds were managed by Graeme Souness! In the Premier League era, these two clubs have been better than any others at bringing players through. Why? Because the local players were instrumental in winning their clubs trophies: the Class of ’92 picked up a series of league titles and cups for United, culminating in the Treble of 1999, while for Liverpool, Steve McManaman, Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard were all key players in cup finals. There was also, of course, Gerrard’s role in Istanbul and Cardiff, and a certain other fellow who wore the No 23 shirt for them! Other clubs such as West Ham and Southampton have produced plenty of players but the clubs have not won anything on the back of that. So yes, it will be sad to see but most supporters — myself included — want to see their team win first and foremost. The icing on the cake is to do it with some of your own, and United and Liverpool have done just that for the past two decades. Hopefully this is a one-off and we will see more homegrown stars in this fixture going forward.