25 Jun 2010Foreign footballers 'hampering English goalkeepers'

Football Referees, Players, Managers and Media

The development of domestic goalkeepers is being held back by the prevalence of overseas footballers in the English Premier League, former Germany international Oliver Kahn has suggested.

Speaking ahead of his country's clash with England in the FIFA World Cup on Sunday (June 27th 2010), the retired Bayern Munich star compared the current crop of English keepers unfavourably with the likes of David Seaman and Gordon Banks, according to the Guardian.

"I don't know how or why they came to stop producing world-class goalkeepers, but it seems to me it is very difficult to develop one when all the leading clubs have foreign players in goal," the 41-year-old explained.

Kahn pointed out that Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal all play with overseas goalkeepers and suggested such a situation would not materialise among the Bundesliga's top football clubs.

His comments came after fellow countryman Franz Beckenbauer criticised the number of foreigners in England's top flight in an article for the South African Times.

Written by Terry Mitchell

© Copyright