Top flight but not top team: Premier League
dominance is hurting England, says Italy keeper
Buffon

Gianluigi Buffon has claimed England will never be
successful at a major tournament until the national
team stops being treated as second-class citizens.
Italy captain Buffon says the Premier League is the
best in the world, but at the expense of Roy Hodgson’s
England team.
The Italy skipper buys into the theory it is the best
league. Indeed, he looked set to join it at one point
when Manchester City were offering him big money to
make the move from Serie A.
But Buffon does not feel that is the best way forward
for the national side.
"Having a competitive league doesn't necessarily mean
having competitive players," he said.
"For a number of years now, the English league has
had the best football and is the best league in terms of
quality.
"The money that's in the game means they can go and
buy anyone from all over Europe or the world.
"This can happen in Spain and Italy as well as England
but the league in England is no longer very faithful to
what the national side needs.
"With this footballing globalisation, it's very difficult.
You struggle to have players from your own country
playing in the top league."
Yet Buffon does not write the Three Lions off
completely.
Having been part of the Italy side that knocked
England out of the quarter-finals on penalties last
Sunday, he is acutely aware of how close Roy
Hodgson's men came to going through.
It is a sadly familiar story.
England have now gone out of six competitions on
penalties, including three at the quarter-final stage.
"The England national side has its own strengths and
they're a lot more physical than other sides," said
Buffon.
"But England aren't very lucky. They've lost on
penalties in the last five or six times, so the margins
between winning and losing are very thin indeed."