FOR AS LONG as England’s Premier League is the dominant financial force — and for as long as France keeps developing its ethnic African and Arabic talents — we will continue importing from across the Channel.

Given the rampant enthusiasm that is growing among Wayne Rooney and others in the England camp, it is perhaps as well that they see themselves crowned world champions next year. Beyond that, the evidence over what is growing in France is that the future could well be blue.

That became clear on Friday night in Belfast, where France won the European Under-19 Championships by three goals to one. It was not simply the score that mattered; the French were superior in every way.

They had the better team, better talents, better tactics, and better use of their imagination. Sven-Göran Eriksson apparently told England’s apprentices in their dressing-room that they can be proud to have reached the final, and should use the experience as a stepping stone towards future international status. Yet the words of the French youth coach more precisely summed up the essential difference.

“It was a victory for the technical side of football,” observed Jean Gallice, the 56-year-old trainer who considers his mission now done. “I don’t mean to denigrate our opponents, but even when we were a goal down, I really had nothing to say to the players at half-time. I just wanted them to play a little wider on the pitch and use the space more.”

On the morning of the final there were premature glowing comparisons to the Class of 1993 — the England youths who triumphed, on home soil, in the European Under-18 tournament. That side had four Manchester United “babes” — Gary Neville, Chris Casper, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes. All bar Casper, who suffered a severe knee injury, made full England internationals. Sol Campbell, then of Tottenham Hotspur, and Robbie Fowler, then of Liverpool, also graduated with honours.

Of course, we didn’t have then such men as Arsène Wenger, or Gerard Houllier, Jose Mourinho, Rafael Benitez, Martin Jol et al working with English clubs to accelerate the imports of worldly skills.

It was impossible not to think of Monsieur Wenger on Friday as the French No 4, Vassiriki Abou Diaby, bestrode the midfield. Paris-born, but of Ivorian origins, this already immense ball-winner looks as close as we are likely to see to Patrick Vieira. At almost 6ft 2ins, he is rangy and long-striding; he seems to motor all night, to enjoy getting his foot in to tackle. He sees situations so early, he rides tackles so strongly; his left foot is his natural one but he has no compunction about using the right to nick the ball or pass it a full range of distances.

Wenger said the other day that he is not looking for another Vieira, but now that Arsenal’s pursuit of Julio Baptista, the Brazilian forward, has been thwarted, perhaps a rethink is in order? Wenger knows where he must go to trade for the embryonic enforcer Diaby — to Auxerre, where for 40 years Guy Roux has procured gifted youths and slowly maturing them like his favourite wine. The blend of French-African qualities, the artistry grafted on to natural athletic quickness and build, is there not only in Diaby, but the even taller Auxerre player, Younes Kaboul, who strides out of defence like a muscled Franz Beckenbauer.

Kaboul spoke of preparing four years for Friday night in Belfast. And because two men do not make a team, their strengths were complemented by the toughness of Yassin Moutaouakil in defence, the lithe swiftness of Dja Djedje and Abdoulaye Balde, the finesse of Yohan Gourcuff.

To be frank, nobody in English white looked vintage youth. None stood out as obviously as a Rooney, a Cristiano Ronaldo, a Cesc Fabregas or even a Joe Cole at their age. And England could not cope with the movement, the verve or the ultimately the combinations of France.

“In our league,” Gourcuff said, “you get more time and space. In this tournament, everything is more compacted, more closed.”

The academies of England may be closing the gap, and doing it better than the Germans who, on the evidence of this tournament, were strong and athletic but no match for the French. So the tournament reinforced old stereotypes, and once France determined that temperament would not be their failing, their use of the ball emphatically took the prize.

England: Martin (MK Dons), McMahon (Middlesbrough), Mills (Southampton), Cranie (Southampton, captain), Taylor (Middlesbrough), Jones (Manchester

United, Jarvis, Norwich, 79min), Leadbitter (Sunderland), Noble (West Ham), Morrison (Middlesbrough, Ryan Smith, Arsenal, 66min), Fryatt (Walsall, Blackstock, Southampton, 78min), Holmes (Derby)

France: Lloris (Nice), Moutaouakil (Chateauroux), Diaby (Auxerre), Chakouri (Montpellier), Digard (Le Havre, Adboun, Ajaccio, 77min), Kaboul (Auxerre, captain), Balde (Amiens), Gourcuff (Stade Rennais), Cabaye Lille), Marange (Bordeaux), Dja Djedje (Stade Brestois, Gouffran, Caen, 74min)

Scorers: England: Holmes 43

France: Chakouri 56, Balde 75, Gouffran 88

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