The pool of English players in the Premier League has dropped by 16% since the 1998/99 season, according to Sky Sports.

This decrease backs up the claim of current England manager Roy Hodgson that he is having to pick from an ever dwindling pool of talent.

Although Premier League clubs spent a record breaking £624million on player transfers, only 10% of that investment was on English players.

There is no doubt a fear amongst English pundits and fans that the number of English players at top clubs will continue to decline and cripple the progress of the England national team.

In the past, when there was more top English talent, there were great players that never got the chance to make an impact on the international stage. For example – Matt Le Tissier and Steve Bruce. The fact that Stewart Downing has more caps than “Le Tiss” is just insane.

Former England manager Glenn Hoddle believes that a quota system is the way forward:

“The England manager’s job is a hard job as it is and it’s going to get harder and harder unless we readdress it with a rule change.

“You’ll get challenged from courts in Europe but for our English team to be successful we have to do something.”

In comparison to other major leagues, England’s top clubs are not doing enough to give English players a platform to build from for the national team.

For example, looking a few top clubs from the Premier League, Arsenal have four English players in their squad, while Manchester City have five and their city rivals United lead the way with eight. But when you look at the top clubs in the Bundesliga, it is a different story. The current European champions Bayern Munich have a total of 13 German players, while the much admired Borussia Dortmund have 12 and early high-flyers Bayer Leverkusen have the same number.

The Bundesliga is an impressive example to follow. There is very little debt at any of their clubs. The majority of German players want to stay in the Bundesliga. And out of the 18 clubs that are competing this year, 13 have German coaches. Whereas, the Premier League currently has four English managers out of twenty teams.

In Spain, although the clubs are not as financially sound, there is still a big focus on promoting home grown players and giving young Spanish managers the chance to flourish. Out of the twenty clubs, there are fourteen that have Spanish managers.

Three of La Liga’s top teams contain plenty of Spanish talent. Carlo Ancelotti’s movements in the transfer window were very interesting, outside the signing of Real’s latest ‘Galatico’ (Bale), Madrid bought young and Spanish. Los Blancos now boast 12 Spanish players. Rivals Barcelona are well known for promoting players from their La Masia academy and their ‘B’ team. The Catalans now have a staggering 15 Spanish players and Champions League qualifiers Real Sociedad have 14 in their squad.

The contrast is unbelievable and it shows once again England, as a footballing nation are miles behind Spain and Germany. It is going to take a lot longer than the four year tenure of new FA Chairman Greg Dyke to turn things around.

With Tottenham’s spending having reached £49million so far this summer on Roberto Soldado, Paulinho and Nacer Chadli, Arsenal supporters are becoming more frustrated by the day with the club’s lack of activity in this transfer window.

The Gunners narrowly edged out their North London rivals Tottenham last season for the final Champions League spot, with a near flawless end to the season but as things stand it could be difficult to repeat this season.

Meanwhile, across London, the new arrivals at Chelsea have indicated a shift in the club’s transfer policy, with Mourinho looking to create a balance between buying ready-made stars and promising youngsters for the future like Andre Schurrle, Marco van Ginkel and bringing back Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku from loan spells.

Over in Manchester, City’s disappointing defense of their league title has led to a new manager in Manuel Pellegrini and nearly £100 million spent so far this summer on bolstering the squad. With Pellegrini and Txiki Begiristain’s knowledge of the Spanish league, Sevilla has lost both its stars Jesus Navas and Alvaro Negredo to the Etihad. Brazilian powerhouse midfielder Fernandinho was brought from Shakhtar Donetsk for £30 million and young Montenegro striker Stevan Jovetic from Fiorentina.

Apart from the arrival of France U20 forward Yaya Sanogo from Auxerre on a free transfer, Arsenal are yet to add anything to their squad. In fact the squad has been significantly depleted. However, this is not through the loss of a key figure like the previous three summers, but through a clear-out of the deadwood that has been floating around the squad for near five years. Among these departures are squad members such as Maroune Chamakh, Sebastian Squillaci, Andrey Arshavin and Gervinho – all of whom filled in when the starting eleven was hit by injuries. Getting these players off the wage bill is only a step forward for the Gunners if they can reinvest correctly.

At the weekend, Arsene Wenger had this to say:

“Yes, of course. I am confident. Why should I sit here and say to you we can absolutely not win the title with the players we have?”

It is hard to interpret what way Wenger sees the current situation; his squad from last season finished fourth, 16 points off runaway leaders Manchester United. Yet he believes this reduced squad can make up that ground? Regardless of the fans opinions of Gervinho and Arshavin, both scored a few important goals and a couple of assists in close victories.

Before the start of the transfer window, there were plenty of top quality strikers known to be on the move in Europe, yet the Gunners missed out on a host of targets. Jovetic, Soldado, Negredo and Wilfried Bony have all made moves to Premier League teams.

It was well known that Pep Guardiola wanted to implement his own style with Champions League winners Bayern Munich, and that striker Mario Gomez would be surplus to requirement. Yet he somehow slipped under the Gunners radar and joined Fiorentina for a fee of €20 million.

With the majority of top targets already at new clubs, Arsenal will find it difficult to recruit a top class forward to take the weight off the shoulders of Frenchman Olivier Giroud. Liverpool have rejected two bids from the North London club for their talisman Luis Suarez, and this could prove a complicated saga that will no doubt run till the end of this window.

There are two alternatives that are yet to be linked with Gunners. The first is Jackson Martinez of FC Porto. The 26 year-old had a tremendous season with 34 goals in 39 appearances, and with Porto traditionally known as a selling club, a fee could definitely be agreed. Another is the Bayer Leverkusen striker Stefan Kiessling. The German finished as the Bundesliga top scorer with 25 goals, one ahead of the much coveted Robert Lewandowski. At the age of 29 Kiessling is in his prime and at 6ft 2in, could adapt quickly to the Premier League.

Time is running out for Arsenal to spend their war chest of £70million. Only 27 days remain until the transfer window shuts, while the 2013-14 Premier League season kicks off in just 11 days. Wenger better get a move on. Otherwise, there are going to be a lot of protests from Arsenal supporters if results don’t go their way.

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy is refusing to back down in the ongoing Gareth Bale transfer saga with Real Madrid.

According to controversial Spanish newspaper Marca, Levy is angry and considers it insulting that ‘Los Blancos’ would come for another one of his stars, only a season after Luka Modric made the move to the Bernabeu.

Levy is well known for his ruthless business style and it’s reported that he wants a world-record-breaking fee before he would consider letting his star performer leave White Hart Lane.

Marca reported today that the Tottenham chairman is now demanding a staggering €145 million (£125m) for the Welsh winger. However, Levy is playing a dangerous game, trying to price out one of the most financially powerful clubs in history especially considering Real president Fiorentino Perez has a history of getting his man; he got Ronaldo (El Phenomeno) from Inter Milan when they refused to sell; he got David Beckham out of Old Trafford and even brought Luis Figo from arch rivals Barcelona for £37 million.

Perez has been relentless in his pursuit of Bale. Although Madrid have trimmed their wage bill through the sales of Raul Albiol, Ricardo Carvalho and Gonzalo Higuain, they have bolstered their squad through the promotion of young Spanish talent. Striker Alvaro Morata, winger Jese Rodriguez and defender Nacho Fernandez have all been promoted to the first squad while Daniel Carvajal was bought back from Bayer Leverkusen, Isco from cash-strapped Malaga and Spanish U21 international midfielder Aisier Illarramendi from Real Sociedad.

The new coaching duo at Madrid of Ancelotti and Zidane want to create a young, vibrant team, filled with academy products and home-grown talents that the Bernabeu crowd can really get behind and love. However, he wants another Galactico to really add that star quality.

There is still much debate between pundits and fans as to whether Bale can command a fee of more than £80million. There is no doubt that he was exceptional last season, as he nearly delivered Tottenham Champions League football all by himself.

However, looking at the stats alone, in the 2010/11 season Bale only scored 11 goals in all competitions, in the following season he only scored 12 and of course last season he finished on 26 in all competitions.

Compare that to Cristiano Ronaldo’s stats in this last three seasons at United, he scored 23 goals in 06/07, 42 goals in 07/08 and 26 goals in 08/09 and since then he has developed his consistency to an extraordinary level.

Another season in the Premier League would not be the worst thing for Bale, a chance for him to stabilize his position as one of the best attacking players in the world. However, it is the Champions League that the Welshman craves and Tottenham cannot offer him that this season.

Regardless of whether he moves this summer or next, teams in La Liga may have to brace themselves for the daunting task of stopping CR7 on one side and the Welsh Wizard on the other.