As I mentioned in a comment under a previous steeemsports post, I think that young English talent is at a disadvantage compared to their peers from other places because of one simple fact. Due to cultural reasons they close themselves off to a lot of the possible routes for development that others are happy to take advantage of.

Most young English players are not willing to go and play abroad and the Premier League is not the most hospitable place for young talent. The league is extremely competitive and managers need to win day in and day out to keep their jobs, so they are much more likely to field experienced players who have shown they can perform reliably instead of youngsters. Very few managers can be sure of their long term position, so fielding a young starting eleven is always a gamble and the manager is unsure they would stay at the club long enough to reap the benefits.

And when a young English player is struggling to get the playing time they needs in order to keep developing, they are not willing to go outside of England to look for it. I'm not saying that every young English player should go play somewhere else, but there are many that would have benefited from a move like that instead of being a benchwarmer who plays 300 minutes a season and starts only in cup matches against weaker opposition. This little playing time condemns them to mediocrity.

Everybody is competing for a place in the Premier League, while the local English players are simply disqualifying themselves for competing for places in the Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1, the Eredivisie and so on. This puts them at a significant disadvantage as they simply have fewer options than their peers - it's either the Premier League, the Champtionship or a lower English league. And it's not just the playing time, a change of scenery and a change in the style of play can also be quite beneficial.

Think about it this way - do you think Pogba would have been what he is today if he had stayed in England instead of going to Italy?