Chelsea comfortably top the table for the number of minutes played by foreign stars in the Premier League this season, with some homegrown talent struggling for game time.
Analysis by the CIES Football Observatory shows that the Blues have fielded ex-patriate players for 87 per cent of the time they have been competing in the top flight, this term.
Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Portuguese influenced squad are in second place (82 per cent) and Manchester City’s all-stars are third (78 per cent), with all but four Premier League teams playing ex-pats for more than 50 per cent of the minutes played.
Chelsea have used ex-patriate players in 87 per cent of the minutes played so far this season, including German forward Timo Werner; England's Mason Mount has played the most of the homegrown talent at Stamford Bridge
At Chelsea, Mason Mount is the only English player who appears in the club’s top 10 regular performers based on minutes played. The attacking midfielder is ranked ninth, albeit in a squad that is rotated more than most and features just one ever-present in Germany’s Antonio Rudiger.
Meanwhile, Manchester City's top 10 features two English players in Jack Grealish and Kyle Walker.
The latest statistics come following an international break in which England boss Gareth Southgate has been forced to pick players who are currently struggling to make the cut at their clubs.
First-choice central defender, John Stones, appeared for England on Tuesday against Hungary but is yet to play a single minute for his club, Manchester City, in the Premier League
First six games of 2021-22 season
Midfielder Mason Mount makes the top 10 for minutes played in the Chelsea squad, but full-back Ben Chilwell has only 90 minutes under his belt in the top flight this season
Despite the lack of game time, the England manager has stuck with Stones. ‘I don’t foresee it being a problem, he’s just been really unfortunate,' Southgate said this week.
In the past, similar statistics on playing time for English players have led to ritual hand-wringing about the impact on the performance of the national team.
Southgate has previously made it clear that he will only select those who are playing regularly for their clubs.
‘I can't rule out players in the Championship,’ he declared in 2018 following a study into playing time for domestic players. ‘Our pool is getting smaller and smaller.’
But the England boss has changed tack recently given his inclusion of Stones, Chelsea’s Ben Chilwell (who has played just 90 minutes of Premier League football this term), Manchester United’s Jesse Lingard (48 minutes) and arguably, even
