MIDDLESBROUGH Football Club's policy of nurturing local talent instead of poaching foreign teenagers has won an unlikely fan - Iain Duncan Smith.

The former Tory leader today attacked the giants of the Premiership for grabbing promising youngsters from abroad, claiming they are damaging English football.

Leading a Commons debate, Mr Duncan Smith - a keen amateur footballer in his youth - targeted Arsenal's academy in Africa and Liverpool's link with the Hungarian club MTK Budapest.

He warned they were part of a trend that meant the number of foreign youngsters at Premiership club academies was now 15 per cent and rising.

Meanwhile, the MP said, fans of the England national side had to suffer its "abject performances" - and their nation crashing out of the Euro 2008 competition.

In sharp contrast, Middlesbrough's Academy is widely recognised as the most successful in the country.

The likes of Stewart Downing, Andrew Taylor, Lee Cattermole and David Wheater have all emerged to command regular starting spots at the Riverside - as did Stuart Parnaby before he moved on.

Last year, Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson stoked controversy when he suggested Liverpool and Arsenal must take some blame for England's struggles.

Mr Gibson said then: "We see the Liverpools and the Arsenals. What are they contributing at national level?"

Yesterday, Mr Duncan Smith backed that view, in a stinging attack on the growing number of foreign footballers in the Premier League.

He told MPs: "Youth players should not be in a position where they are competing with youngsters from potentially every nation in the world for a tiny, limited number of academy places.

"Inevitably large numbers of English players are unceremoniously dropped."

Mr Duncan Smith added: "No less a person than Sir Trevor Brooking has said we are going to have serious problem. Can our English youngsters even get into the academies at Premiership clubs?"

The MP suggested the FA was too scared of the Premier League to tackle the dominance of foreign players, although he stopped short of calling for quotas, or government intervention.

And he poured scorn on the claim that the Premiership was attracting the world's best players, claiming only a minority were good enough for their national sides.

The figures were Spain (15 Premiership players, five of whom were internationals), Italy (none of three), France (12 of 34) and Germany (three of eight).

Mr Duncan Smith said: "Those leagues seem to be competing on a different set of criteria. They seem to think that it is possible to have a successful league and national involvement."

Gerry Sutcliffe, the sports minister, acknowledged concerns about the number of foreign players, but warned: "Quotas would be difficult because of European legislation."