Any successful Premier League club must have a good strong crop of young English talent says Kelvin Leong.

The first blockbuster game of the season between Manchester United and Liverpool lived up to expectations with the home side finally laying the ghost to rest by winning the game courtesy of a Ryan Babel goal.

As I saw the drama unfold at Anfield, it struck me that watching the two English giants at war was like watching a world all-star selection game.

On United's team sheet were foreigners Carlos Tevez, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra, Edwin van Der Sar, Anderson and Dimitar Berbatov.

The Liverpool side's oversees talent came in the shape of Pepe Reina, Xabi Alonso, Ryan Babel, Alvaro Arbeloa, Martin Skrtel, Fabio Aurelio, Yossi Benayoun, Javier Mascherano, Albert Riera, Dirk Kuyt and Robbie Keane.

I then tried to recall how many Englishmen are in Tottenham's first team and I would like to proclaim that Tottenham Hotspur can be proud of the fact that despite bringing in a whole brigade of foreigners, our English backbone is still strong.

Jermaine Jenas, Ledley King, Michael Dawson, Aaron Lennon, Darren Bent, David Bentley, Jamie OHara and Tom Huddlestone are all regular starters for the Lilywhites.

The talk of implementing a foreign player quota should be embraced with open arms if I was the English FA.

This will give budding English youngsters a chance to play on the big stage instead of throwing ridiculous amounts of money to bring in a player from foreign climes.

England might have trounced the daylights out of Croatia in their World Cup qualifying game a few weeks back, but I am adamant that for the Three Lions to ever win a World Cup, nurturing young talent has got to be the priority.

And may I suggest an English phenom who Fabio Capello should have a look at. And so should Juande Ramos.

Danny Rose.

The flying winger we signed from Leeds United is a replica of Aaron Lennon albeit with a better physique and a more all-round game.

I expect him to be thrown into the mix for cup games this season and for the sake of England and Spurs, I hope he comes out all guns blazing and gives a good account of himself.

So yes, we should be proud of having a solid English backbone but if an Arabian prince wants to buy our club and pay millions for star players like Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo, I have absolutely no objection!

Just remember to give Rose a chance while you're at it.