Roy Hodgson encourages England players to move abroad

Josh McEachran has joined Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem on a season-long loan from Chelsea

England manager Roy Hodgson believes his country's young players would benefit from playing regular first-team football abroad.

Hodgson said "more than half" of the players he selects are not guaranteed a starting place at their English clubs.

Speaking to theFA.com, he said he would prefer English players to appear for good teams abroad rather than "warming the bench" in the Premier League.

"It wouldn't hurt them at all to go abroad," said the 66-year-old.

A youthful England squad endured a disastrous time in Brazil this summer, finishing bottom of their group as they failed to progress to the knockout stages of a World Cup for the first time since 1958.

The former Fulham boss insisted after the World Cup that England have a bright future with their new crop of players.

But he added: "We are going to have to accept that some young players - who I think are good enough and can win games for England - will not always be first choice for their teams in England.

"If you're asking me would it be better for some of our players to be playing in good teams abroad rather than warming the bench, then of course, as a national team manager I would like to see that."

Chelsea and England Under-21 midfielder Josh McEachran has this week joined Vitesse Arnhem on a season-long loan.

"It is not my job to tell players what to do but I would think that, if the opening was there for players to go abroad, then a lot of them would take it," said Hodgson, whose team host Norway at Wembley on 28 September.

"Chelsea have a lot of young players and they send them to Vitesse Arnhem. Manchester City have a lot of farm clubs.

"In my days in Sweden, where the season runs from April to October, a lot of English players used to go out there and play in the summer. But that doesn't seem to happen anymore."