The good, the bad, and the homesick! Why don't British players travel?

It is only in exceptional cases that top British players move abroad, and given that no other country appears to have such a stranglehold over its own produce, I want to find out why.

In 2006, Italy won the World Cup with a squad comprised of players who all played in their homeland bar Fabio Grosso who at the time earned his trade at Olympique Lyonnais.

In 2010, Spain did the same with only Fernando Torres and Cesc Fabregas playing outside of La Liga. But the continental players have always travelled well - we need only look at the Premiership for evidence of that.

Without the obvious examples of David Beckham and Michael Owen, one struggles to find a case study of a decorated British footballer really making the cut abroad. When we consider the impact on our own game of the likes of Henry, Zola, Cantona, Ronaldo and Bergkamp - that just seems staggering!

Maybe the pull factors overweigh the push ones. After all the Premier League is the most supported and most lucrative league in the world today. No wonder so much overseas talent wants a piece of it, and no wonder our best homegrown players don't want to leave.

When I think of 'Brits abroad' in modern football, it's no longer Charles, Lineker, Keegan, Hughes and Hoddle. It's Pennant, Harte, Miller, McGeady, Derbyshire and Carson - no disrespect but it just isn't the same.

The concept of wanting a new challenge doesn't seem to exist in England. It seems unfeasible that Rio would leave Old Trafford for Barcelona or that Joe Cole would have taken the opportunity to make a fresh start on the continent rather than cling to his own Premier league career for dear life.

Fans, journalists and ex-players alike have all finally come to the conclusion that the direct style of play employed naturally by our international side has been outdated by a new pass and move era. Would it not benefit the Lampards and Gerrards of this world to see how the other side live a little?

Despite the Premier League being a multi-cultural playing field, a national style of football is deeply engrained and old habits die hard. The roar of the crowd when a robust tackle flies is no louder than the frustrated groans which ring around football stadiums when a side attempts to build patiently rather than fling hopeful high balls into opposition territory.

Having watched live football at the San Siro I can tell you that the attitude abroad can vary. When Pirlo attempted ambitious slide rule passes and overhit them, my father and I both muttered 'what a bloody waste', but the people around us applauded.

England are always undone by tricky customers like Ozil, Rui Costa and Arshavin and we always say the same thing - 'we don't have anyone like them'. It's no coincidence and we need to stop blaming evolution and rotten bad luck for our lack of creative flair.

Gary Lineker by his own admission learned more in a season at Barcelona about international football than he ever did in his 80 caps for England. I have no doubt that the English strait-jacket could well be unravelled if a few more of our top internations showed a similar ambition.