Ex-Brighton boss Hughton: Ireland still producing top young talent

Former Brighton boss Chris Hughton believes Ireland's young talent are good enough to make it in England.

Hughton has stressed the door is always open to top talent.

The idea that Irish players are no longer on the radar of the top English clubs is not correct, but the landscape has changed in recent years," Hughton told the Sunday World.

You look back to the 1980s when I was playing or even the start of the Premier League era and most of the squads were full of British and Irish players.

That has changed and the world is now much smaller in many ways.

When I was at Tottenham and we signed Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa from Argentina, it was a massive story.

This was not normal back then, but it has gone the other way now.

Signing an English player is unusual now and that's partly due to the cost and also down to the depth of talent clubs are now looking at.

Ireland and Scotland are no longer the only countries clubs are looking at, which was the case 30 and 40 years ago.

I also feel Irish clubs are a little more shrewd in the way they do business these days and realise they can ask for more money and that means the days of Irish players coming over for little or nothing are gone.

All of this has combined to make it more challenging for young players from Ireland to get into the Premier League."