LONDON, March 30 (Reuters) - UEFA president Michel Platini said he wants rules put in place to stop top clubs poaching the most talented teenagers from abroad.

English clubs are particularly reliant on overseas talent not just in their first teams but also at academy level, a situation that worries the Frenchman.

He also said he fears for for the future of English football if the current trend of club's selling out to billionaire foreign owners continues.

Club football in England is on a high with Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool in the Champions League quarter-finals this week.

However, Arsenal are unlikely to have an English player starting against Liverpool who themselves have very few English players. Platini said he will work with the European Commission to try and limit the influx of foreign teenagers.

'I have told the European Commission that we should ban the transfer of minors. The first contract a player signs should be with the club who trains him,' Platini said in the Mail on Sunday. 'Minors shouldn't be seen as a machine that can be transferred for the benefit of agents or clubs.'

On foreign ownership, Platini pointed the finger at Liverpool and Manchester City. He said it is about time clubs stop allowing themselves to be traded between billionaire individuals.

Liverpool have been at the centre of an ownership battle between Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett and a Dubai-based investment company this season.

'It does sadden me,' he said. 'But it is up to the fans to take decisions, or for the city of Liverpool or England to take a position.

'If they are happy to live with it, there is nothing I can do. But, of course, it saddens me. I say these things because of my love for football.'

He also questions the motives of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in buying Manchester City.

'Why is he doing that? Is it because he wants to develop young people in Manchester? Or is he trying to elevate his prestige through buying a club in Britain?' Platini said.

'I understand this is the way things are going. But I'm saddened by it. I would prefer the former Thai Prime Minister to develop their football, Thai football, for Americans to develop football in the United States, rather than buy English clubs.

'Why are they not doing it in their country, if they love football and have money? They invest in different countries because it gives them profits.

'Rules need to be adopted in the English parliament and maybe also in the German, Austrian, Czech and Italian parliaments if people are willing to protect their national assets. After all, these football clubs are national assets. It is not the same as buying shares in Fiat or in France Telecom. I really can't agree with it.'

Platini criticised the Premier League's planned 39th game when it was announced last year and described his relationship with Premier League chief Peter Scudamore as difficult.

'I would say the aggression shown to me by Mr Scudamore is mutual,' says Platini. 'I do not treat him with kid gloves, neither him nor the Premier League. But let's just say that my English representative is the president of the English FA.'

All this rant is, is an attack on English football by a grumpy frenchman who is annoyed that no French teams are in the quarter finals of the champions league! Football clubs are businesses, not national assets, and what if players don't want to sign their first contract with the club they were at first, its not up to Platini to decide who they play for, that is entirely the players decision. And i like the way he says, "Rules need to be adopted in the English parliament and maybe also in the German, Austrian, Czech and Italian parliaments", definately in England, and maybe in the others, no mention of France strangely enough, who incidently import young Africans and South Americans by the bucket load!

'I have told the European Commission that we should ban the transfer of minors. The first contract a player signs should be with the club who trains him,' Platini said in the Mail on Sunday. 'Minors shouldn't be seen as a machine that can be transferred for the benefit of agents or clubs.'


this is something i have been saying for a long time,especially when clubs like millwall who have one of the best youth academys outside the top flight always never getting the benefits of their own academy...

Why is it legends of the game always have to open there chops?, obviously to eat of course lol

But anychance they get to slag off another country, or a player when it dosn't concern them baffles me, they just drag there great name through the mud

I used to respect him for his football, but he can go jump off a cliff now. Pleb...