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Paul Scholes has urged Premier League clubs to have more faith in home-grown talent – or England will continue to struggle on the world stage.

And the United legend even had a go at his former club for failing to give young gun Jesse Lingard a chance in the first team.

Scholes lamented England’s performance at the World Cup and said an influx of foreign players in the Premier League was damaging the national side.

He claimed the league is ‘riddled’ with average foreign talent, limiting the amount of opportunities for home-produced players.

Scholes slammed clubs - including United - for sending good English prospects out on loan to Championship clubs ‘at the expense of very average imports’.

He wrote in his blog for bookmaker Paddy Power: “Let’s take the example of Jesse Lingard. He’s a 21-year-old, Warrington-born Manchester United player who was farmed out on loan to Brighton.

“Last season at United, Lingard went on the pre-season tour, scored goals, and looked really sharp. At that time he was a better prospect, in my mind, than Adnan Januzaj, but he didn’t get the chance.

“I’m not questioning the talent of Januzaj, but Lingard, if given the opportunity, could have done well in the first team. With his ability, Lingard deserved to challenge Shinji Kagawa for a place.”

The limited pool of young English players has led their prices to be inflated, said Scholes, who cited Luke Shaw’s alleged £34m price tag as evidence of the soaring cost of English talent.

The 39-year-old also claimed he would rather see the Reds spend that cash on a top-class forward.

“The proposed £34m transfer for the 18-year-old Luke Shaw to Manchester United is another example of something which has a bad long-term impact,” he added.

“Clubs are priced out of this market which is why they go abroad for cheap options - they’re not better players. For a left-back to be worth £34m shows how silly the game has gone.

“For that money I want a centre-forward who’s going to score 30 goals a season.”

Scholes also said England would be lucky to qualify for the 2022 World Cup and fears they are ‘going the way of the Republic of Ireland, Wales and Scotland’.

He added: “Compared to La Liga and the Bundesliga, English players are not getting enough first-team time in the Premier League. We’re going backwards from 1990.”