Sepp Blatter, what are you on about? Your idea of limiting domestic club sides to five foreign players in a starting XI to allow home-grown talent to flourish is mad. If you had your way I would probably be working in a restaurant in Germany instead of playing for Fulham. But then, why am I surprised? The only decent thing you have suggested was that girls should play in tight shorts to increase the popularity of the women’s game. Genius. You obviously got to the top of Fifa because of your sense of humour.

To be fair to Blatter, I can see what he’s trying to achieve by proposing to cap the number of foreigners. But how he – or anyone in their right mind for that matter – can think it would do anything other than damage the game is beyond me. I naturally see it from a Barclays Premier League perspective, although I know he’s not just attacking our top flight. But in my view it’s the Premier League that would suffer most, setting it back years.

Raising the quantity of domestic players in each team does not mean raising the quality. So it would be easier for English youngsters to break into a first team, but what have you gained by that? It doesn’t mean the standards have gone up. If anything they will have gone down because the competition is less. And football is all about competition – between teams and within them. That’s how the cream rises to the top.

I believe the foreign influx has done nothing but raise the level of English players and the English game. I don’t mean that to sound in anyway disrespectful to English football. But development is all about sharing ideas, exposure to new ways of doing things and looking beyond your horizons. The Premier League is now a cultural melting pot and that benefits everyone involved. And it’s the combination of the traditionally English with the foreign that makes it what it is. It’s the best league in the world precisely because of this cosmopolitan flavour, where different styles mingle against the backdrop of English intensity and atmosphere. Reduce any of those elements and the Premier League wouldn’t be the same.

OK, such circumstances might make it harder for young English players to break into a top-flight team. But let me tell you from personal experience, it’s no easier for a young foreign player. It’s a matter of which player is better, not where he’s from.

I came over from Germany to join Arsenal as a 16-year-old and when you’re a youngster in that situation, the most important thing is to be inspired. And you’re inspired by what a great player can do, not by his passport. So isn’t it better that most of the world’s best players are here in England? Isn’t their presence alone of huge benefit to young English players at all levels?

Aside from pure football, there are ethical issues at stake here, too. Imagine I’m competing for a place against an English player and, in football terms, am more deserving of that place. If I didn’t get picked because of this ruling I’d see it as straightforward discrimination. Putting someone at a disadvantage because of their origin would be seen as an outrage in any other profession.

But then, according to Mr Blatter, us footballers aren’t workers. No, we are “artists” apparently. Well, if that’s the case, in the way that an artist can sell his skills to anyone he or she likes and at any time, can I turn up at a different club every week and ask to play for them? No, I can’t, because I’m an employee of a company and bound by a contract just like anyone else. So, as a worker from the European Union, why should the rules be different for me than for any other German in a different profession coming to work here?

The international element of today’s game is part of what makes football such a rich experience. I’m proud that I had the opportunity to come to England, and it was football that gave me that opportunity. Since then, I’ve become friends with people from all over the world – Africans, Europeans, Americans – and all because of our shared love of the game.

After eight years here, I also see myself as a Londoner as much as a German and you only have to walk the streets of the city to see what a multicultural world we live in.

In today’s world, football can unify and unite people. Why create boundaries, Sepp?