Sepp Blatter's idea of having teams with just over half of their starting XI hailing from the country of the respective league they are playing in has caused a huge stir.

Predictably those people quick to oppose such a plan include former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein who oversaw Arsene Wenger's arrival at the north London outfit in 1996 and was part of a complete overhaul at the club in which Gunners fans are lucky if they see one Englishman trot out to represent them on a weekly basis.

Dein says a scenario whereby every Premier League side must field six English players, 'is very contentious and will hurt the Premier League. It needs a lot more thought. It needs the Premier League, the FA, the Football League and PFA to sit down and think it through'.

Of course we want to see the best players from around the world plying their trade in England, but there is a duty to ensure that the youngsters coming through the Academies across the country are also handed a fair opportunity to prove themselves in the big league.

This would also be beneficial to England's international prospects as there would be more players available, creating more competition for places and hopefully a better standard than the current bunch who will be lounging about by the pool while the cream of Europe battle it out for the Euro 2008 crown this month.

The opposition camp also argue that foreigners are needed because the standard of youngsters in England is not good enough thus forcing clubs to look abroad and it would also hamper our chances of success in European club competitions.

That is pure folly! Looking at my own club Middlesbrough, who have attempted to nurture local youngsters into Premier League players, winger Stewart Downing is a full England international, defender David Wheater is about to join him, while full-back Andrew Taylor and midfield duo Lee Cattermole and Adam Johnson are Under-21 regulars.

Then take a look at last month's Champions League final where Manchester United won with six English

players in their starting XI, while finalists Chelsea fell short of the quota by just two. It is not surprising then that United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is a keen advocate of Blatter's future vision.

"For the good of the game in England, it would be good to see more home-based players at the top clubs," he said.

Another argument is the Premier League could lose out on the top foreign players and would not be as attractive to watch!

I would argue that the rule would mean the top foreigners wanting to play in England could be forced to look at the smaller top-flight clubs and therefore be evenly spread out as opposed to making a beeline

for the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United which ultimately means more competition and possibly even the end of the current predictable 'big four' monopoly we are witnessing at present.

At the moment this proposal contradicts article 39 of the EC treaty which covers the freedom of movement

of professional footballers in the UK. Therefore it would take some work by Blatter and Fifa to push it through.

Personally however long it takes I feel this 'six-plus-five' idea is the way forward, not only for the good of the England national team, but also the good of the game as a whole!

Written by Craig Smithson, a professional sports writer who blogs about Euro 2008 betting and Champions League Betting at the betting.Betfair blog.