Michael Owen has suggested a radical American-style draft system to help young English players reach their potential.

The former Liverpool and Manchester United striker burst onto the scene as a lethal and ruthless teenage striker, a rise to stardom scarcely seen among top young English prodigies - from making his Liverpool debut in 1997 at 17 to winning the Ballon d'Or four years later.

Owen recently spoke on Rio Ferdinand's podcast about the struggles that English players have breaking into Premier League teams. A problem that is one of the reasons behind the senior England squad failing at major tournaments, despite Young Lions teams scooping up titles at youth level.

Most recently, England U21s beat Germany to retain their Euros crown; however, key players including Jarell Quansah and Harvey Elliott were sold by Liverpool this summer.

While Manchester City moved James McAtee on, despite the clubs all buying like-for-like replacements from the continent. Florian Wirtz and Giovanni Leoni joined Liverpool while City signed Rayan Cherki.

Speaking exclusively to the Daily Star Sport, via betting site BetSelect, Owen revealed he had spoken to the FA about the issue and made two bold proposals. He said: "It is very difficult.

"I wrote a blog on this very topic maybe 10 years ago. And as soon as I wrote in, it got into the public domain. The FA came and had a meeting with me, wanted to pick my brains about certain things, so I had a chat with them. The annoying thing is that nothing has changed since.

"There were two solutions I mentioned at the time, and they still ring true. One is going down the Spanish model, and having B teams.

"You would have Manchester City B team, let's say, and they start in whatever league. But let's say Real Madrid's B team is in the equivalent of the Championship or Division One, and they get promoted or demoted just like any other team.

"That has pros and cons, but these young players are actually learning the harsh realities of the game, which is the bit that they miss out on playing glorified academy stuff at the Under-21 level or Under-23 level.

"They actually play against men who are hard and need to win to pay their mortgage. It's real life.

"The other option is to make it mandatory for players to go out on loan and have a draft system, whereby any team lower than the Premier League gets to take a player on loan from one of the Premier League teams unless they're in the first-team squad.

"Again, that would be hard to set up and police because it'd be difficult to force any club to part with their players. But there has to be some way that we get players into the system and play in real football.

"Not this Under-23 rubbish that I watch all the time. It's just the same as watching the Under-15s team."

Owen continued to explain his despair with under-23 football, said: "For starters, why would you have an Under-23? If you're 22 and you're still playing an Under-23 football, I would suggest the ship has sailed.

"So these players should be in the academies at a maximum age of 20, really. It should be under 21.

"So I just don't get why a 22-year-old is still furrowing away in Manchester City's youth team or Under-23s teams. They go stale, and they miss the boat. They miss the boat by three or four years."

Michael Owen suggests bold American-style draft can help England win major tournament - Daily Star