Arsene Wenger has expressed concern about what he claims to be the practice of big clubs 'stockpiling' young players, who in turn miss out on the experience of first-team football.
The Arsenal boss, writing in the official club magazine, suggests that a change in the loan system or even having top sides part-owning teams in the lower leagues could reverse this trend.
Wenger said: "It is one of the big problems in the modern game. You've invested a lot of money into players because we're paying more and more money, and then at the age of 20 you don't usually get much money for any of the players, so the reflex is to stockpile the players. That's not right.
"When you look at the number of loans that happen here and there, the whole system has to be thought about again because we have two kinds of solution in there.
"The first is to continue developing players, the second step is just to make sure your investment is safe - and that's not the right way to think about it but it's the natural reflex for the clubs. Maybe you could create a possibility for some clubs to own part of a League One club as a feeder club. After that, a limitation on the number of players on your books could work.
"The way a youth team is organised now is that all the best young players go to the richest clubs, which is where they have fewer chances to develop, so you have to make sure the system shares out the best young players equally.
"It's difficult because the development of the players depends on the concentration of the good players. The more good players you have together, the more chance they have of becoming even better players."
Arsenal currently have 13 players out on loan, while Premier League leaders Chelsea's loanee tally as of December stands at 38.
Giuseppe Labellarte
