Adams worried about latest influx

Concerns over the Premier League's reliance on overseas players have heightened after it emerged that 90 per cent of spending during the summer transfer window was on foreign stars.Analysts Deloitte say that of the record-breaking total of £630million, £570million was spent on foreign players.And former England captain Tony Adams believes that the high number of imports in the English top flight can only have a detrimental effect on the national team.He told Zapsportz.com: "I used to think that top-class foreign talent would have a positive effect on our young English players, that they would improve rubbing shoulders with them."However, the reverse has become true, it has had an adverse effect. Buying up all this foreign talent is like buying the England team a ticket to oblivion."Unfortunately the young English talent has not come through and I'm worrying that they have become swamped by the sheer volume of foreign imports."Premier League clubs may have eclipsed their European rivals in terms of spending during the transfer window but the top divisions in both Spain and Italy made an overall surplus from player trading.In Spain and Italy the total spent was £335million in each league but both La Liga (£95million) and Serie A (£10million) generated net surpluses despite Gareth Bale's world record 100million euro (£85.3million) transfer to Real Madrid.In Germany's Bundesliga, the net spend was only £50million compared to£400million in England.The advent of UEFA's financial fair play measures, plus economic difficulties in those countries, appear to have contributed to a more prudent approach.

Source: PA