England manager Mark Sampson is hoping the decision to move the Women's Super League to a winter schedule can help the nation's young talent flourish - with help from some of the world's best.
The Football Association announced last week that, from 2017 onwards, the WSL will fall in line with the rest of the women's pyramid in England by running their season from September to May.
Currently in its sixth season, the WSL now has seven full-time clubs but with problems surrounding fixture scheduling and the availability of stadiums, a decision was made to shift from a summer season.
There will also be a winter break between mid-December and mid-January and the move will see the Women's FA Cup final take place at the end of the domestic campaign.
Sampson, who led England to third place at the 2015 World Cup, said last week the changes should be of benefit to his squad.
And the boss also believes having a more settled calendar across the course of a season can only help the national team develop and give them the chance to oust foreign players from their respective WSL sides.
"The foreign player debate is a big debate," Sampson conceded.
"But what it fundamentally comes down to is our young players being good enough to get selected ahead of foreign players.
"I have not met a WSL coach who has said if there was an English player better than a foreign player they wouldn't pick the English player.
"We need to make sure the work we are doing is developing players that when it comes to picking a Norwegian, an American, a German or an English 17-year-old, they pick the English player because they are the best player for the team.
"With the games being spread over a bit more of a consistent period, these young players get a chance in training to put their mark on it."
While Sampson's reasons for wanting to increase his talent pool are obvious, the 33-year-old remains keen to see the WSL continue to attract some of the world's biggest names.
Arsenal Ladies have a trio of Dutch internationals led by midfielder Danielle van de Donk, while Sweden forward Kosovare Asllani represents Manchester City Women and Chelsea Ladies arguably have the star attraction in Ji So-yun of South Korea.
But, with Sampson wanting to see more talent come to the WSL, he is wary that saturating the league with average players from overseas could see the good work he wants in developing his young Lionesses reversed.
"It is finding the balance," he said.
"We have some incredible foreign players in our competition who have massively enhanced our league.
"The debate is always going to be about the next batch, the foreign players who come into the league and are not that much better than we have got but they are more experienced and, terribly, maybe cheaper.
"We have got to manage it. I go back to Eric Cantona, Dennis Bergkamp and Gianfranco Zola, the impact they made, and if we can get top, top players from around the world the impact they would have on our league and on some of our senior players will certainly help.
"We have got to make sure our younger players are at the level they need to be but also get in those top, top foreign players to enhance the quality of the league and our players."
Source: PA
