Roberto Martínez has claimed English football is suffering from "a void" of competitive matches at under-21 level and advocated using lower league clubs as feeder teams for the Premier League.

The Everton manager has been consulted over the dearth of homegrown talent in the Premier League by Ged Roddy, the organisation's director of youth who helped devise the elite player performance plan in an attempt to remedy the shortage.

Martínez believes the theory that Spain, the reigning world and European champions, prosper from having more talent, and a long-term development programme is a myth. He insists, his homeland benefits from exposing players in the 18-21 age range to competitive league football and England's failure to offer a similar experience is at the root of the country's malaise.

Here, the Everton manager outlines the weaknesses, and potential solutions, he has identified for the Premier League …

Why are there fewer homegrown players making it in the Premier League?

RM: Unfortunately from the ages of 19-23 we're not developing youngsters as well as we can. There are many problems. The games programme is not good enough. In the under-21s Premier League you don't get promoted or relegated [although the League on Thursday agreed to change that from next season] so you don't learn that your performances can cost you and can cost people their jobs. It's not a real environment.

Then you have the loan system which takes you away from the environment that you've been playing in to a completely different environment, so you don't learn the type of game that you should be playing at your club. The under-21 league has improved from where we were three years ago but the reality is that we need to take responsibility because the youngsters at 18, 19, 20 aren't getting the education they would get in France or Spain or Italy. That's the truth.

Should English football follow Spain's lead?

RM: Everyone talks about how Spain develop players, about how they've developed a programme over 10-15 years and so on. I don't want to use strong words but that's rubbish. It comes down to this – Spain has a programme that develops men at the age of 18-21. That's what it is, nothing else, because up to the age of 18 England has some of the best talent in the world but then they become over-protected. The under-18s at Everton have got the same facilities as the first team, the same support team and everything. It's too much. It's good to have those things but if we've got such a fantastic set-up to the age of 18 why are we looking away at the ages of 18-21?

How does a Spanish player's development compare with an English player?

RM: Gerard Deulofeu and Luke Garbutt (Everton's winger on loan from Barcelona and England Under-20 defender respectively) are a good comparison because they are the same age. Deulofeu is a man football-wise because he's been playing the equivalent of Championship football with Barcelona B and scored 18 goals last season. Luke hasn't been put in that position. He went to Cheltenham on loan but only for a short period and he hasn't had the experience of 40 games at a proper level.

So England should introduce the B team system?

RM: I don't think B-teams will ever happen in our game because the lower leagues in this country are the best in the world. We shouldn't lose that but I'm sure there are ways to find common ground so that youngsters can play competitive football before they get into the first team. Can you imagine playing at Championship level with your group, in your environment, but having to win games, get promotion and avoid relegation?

You see Segunda B teams trying to avoid relegation and those games are brutal. That is what you want for the development of youngsters. You know what it means to play against men. That's what you develop – mentally, psychologically and in every aspect of the game – but we haven't got that here. We are wrong.

What changes do you propose?

RM: You could have feeder teams. For example, Accrington Stanley could have 10 players from Everton. I'm not saying that's the solution but many teams in Leagues One and Two are having problems financially and it wouldn't be a bad thing for them to have 10 players from one club. I agree that with B-teams you don't want to take away 80-90 years of history from clubs like Accrington, you have to be careful, but there has to be a compromise.

Look at England's Under-21s. Every one of them is a top name or is associated with a top club, but they can't win a tournament. My problem is more with the individual – they play five or 10 minutes as a substitute each week in the Premier League. They don't play 90 minutes solid week in and week out like Ross Barkley. We put lads in the first-team squad but they are at the bottom of the dressing room and what experience are they getting? If a boy trains at under-18 level he does 35 hours a week. If he goes into the under-21s he's lucky if he does 10. They have too much time on their hands and start thinking they've made it with the cars and the girls. We've created a void in that age group.