With the rise of women's football in England and increased uptake, it would be surprising to learn that the proportion of England-qualified players in the WSL fell to just 30% last season, less than half the level of seven years ago.
This is not because there are fewer English players per se, but because the WSL has become a hub for international stars and is a highly competitive league.
When the WSL went fully professional in 2018, 64% of players were England-qualified. However, since then, clubs have intensified recruitment of overseas talent, with figures declining year on year to a level comparable to those in the Premier League.
This does not mean that the women's game in England is getting worse; rather, it reflects the game's growth, as it is attracting interest from further afield and has become the strongest women's league in Europe.
England, as an international team, remains in outstanding health, having won back-to-back Euros and reached a World Cup final.
Grassroots participation has more than doubled over the past decade, but there remain gaps in the development pathway for talented girls and young women to progress to elite levels.
The only concern is that WSL academies are not producing sufficient homegrown players to be sent directly into the first team and instead rely on young talent from abroad, such as in Scandinavia.
Baroness Sue Campbell, the FA’s former director of women’s football, said: “The wider talent pathway needs massive investment,” Campbell says. “The total investment now is probably the equivalent of what one Premier League club would spend on its academy.”
She also emphasised the structural barriers and differences in the academy system between boys and girls, with the girls rarely receiving the same support, resulting in academies struggling to identify and retain talent.
“We need to design a talent pathway that’s inclusive,” Campbell adds, recalling a comment from Emma Hayes that the existing pathway often assumes parents have the resources and transport to travel long distances to centres of excellence located in affluent areas.
The depth issue is further illustrated at the youth level. At last year’s Under-19 European Championship, 16 members of the French squad were playing in top-flight domestic leagues, compared with just four from England, including Agyemang.
The CEO of the WSL, Nikki Doucet, stressed the importance of balancing elite English talent with the best international players. She argued that domestic players will develop more quickly when competing against the world's best. The loan system is a potential solution to the lack of playing time afforded to English players.
In recent transfers, the window has become more lucrative, creating incentives for clubs to invest in homegrown players and develop them with the prospect of future financial returns, especially as selling academy players yields only financial benefits.
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