article_snippet: While there is a slight increase in the number of English players in the Premier League
article_snippet: However, only 22% of the starters in the current top four teams are qualified to play for England, compared to 28% last year.
article_snippet: In 2014, just 23 English players appeared in the Champions League group stage, compared with 78 Spaniards, 55 Germans and 51 Brazilians.
article_snippet: This season the three English clubs that reached the knockout stages of the Premier League started only 10 English players, compared to 12 French and nine Spanish in those three sides.
article_snippet: In the last two weeks only five English players started in the second legs of the knockout stage.
article_snippet: Of that 18-man match-day squad, only four have gone on to play more than 20 top-flight games, while double that from the Spanish squad have done so in La Liga.
article_snippet: Of the 12 clubs who have played in each of the last five the Premier League seasons, the average number of home-grown players per squad has gone from 11.4 to 9.4.
article_snippet: Only 62% of current home-grown players are qualified to play for England.