The Premier League’s chief executive, Richard Scudamore, has unequivocally insisted there will never be B teams in the Football League and that the introduction of academy sides into the EFL Trophy is not the “thin end of the wedge”.

In the wake of the decision to allow 16 invited category one academy sides to participate in the EFL Trophy, formerly the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, there have been renewed fears among some fans that it could lead to B teams in the Football League itself.

But Scudamore said that a wholesale rethink of the opportunities for academy players, including a new Premier League 2 for under-23s that allows for up to four overage players, and the EFL Trophy relaunch, means there is no need for B teams in the Football League.

“This is the beginning of the end of B teams – this is it,” Scudamore said. “That’s the whole point of it, to be honest. We are absolutely consistent on our view about no B teams in the regular Football League.

“Yes, of course we know some of our clubs would like B teams. We look abroad and we see the benefit of B teams. It’s just for the English football structure and pyramid, it doesn’t work, and so this is it,” he added. “We can console all these worried Football League clubs’ supporters. This isn’t the thin end of the wedge, this is the block. It’s the beginning of the end of it.”

Scudamore and the Premier League’s director of football development, Ged Roddy, said the Premier League 2 competition, together with the EFL Trophy initiative and the existing Premier League Cup and Premier League International Cup, would help provide more meaningful, regular competitive football for players on the brink of the first team.

Too few young players produced by English Premier League clubs are making the breakthrough into the first team between the ages of 18 and 22. But Scudamore said the figures are moving in the right direction, with 67 so-called homegrown players making their debut last season compared with 54 in 2014-15.

In the wake of England’s implosion at Euro 2016, Premier League executives also insisted the failure of Roy Hodgson’s side did not merit a rethink on youth development. “We did our own post-Euros discussion, and there is nothing we saw that put us off the journey,” said Scudamore. “In other words, we know we’re producing good players, we saw nothing that said: ‘Oh, crikes.’”

In comparison, he said, the failure to qualify for the 2008 European Championship had prompted a wholesale overhaul.

Roddy, who was appointed in 2009 to oversee the radical reform of the academy system that became the Elite Player Performance Plan, rejected criticism from some former players in the wake of England’s defeat by Iceland that academies are producing a generation of cossetted players who had too much too soon.

“When England go out [of a competition] you get these real spikes of opinion,” Roddy said. “It’s important not to ignore those comments but you also have to filter them. Do I think players are soft in this system? No way. These players are trying to create a career for themselves in the hardest league in the world. It’s self-evident that our players have got to be among the best players in the world if they’re going to play in it.

“When we started out people would say there was no English talent, but now people say there is English talent but it needs an opportunity. That is seismic shift from where we were only four seasons ago.”

Scudamore insisted he was not concerned that several Premier League clubs had turned down the chance to play in the EFL Trophy. He said that 16 of the 24 clubs with category one academies had agreed to take part in the EFL Trophy, which was always the goal.

He also said that the Premier League was “keen” to introduce a winter break if a practical way could be found to make that happen in discussions with the Football League and the Football Association over the fixture calendar. Any change will have to be agreed in principle before the Premier League goes to market for its next TV contract next year, but could not be introduced until the FA’s current TV deal runs out in 2021.