Sir Bobby Charlton believes that the influx of foreign players into the Barclays Premier League has caused serious problems for England's national team.

As a World Cup winner, who represented his country an impressive 106 times and remains England's record goalscorer, Charlton is one of the most respected figures in the game. But, at the start of a month-long promotion of his newly-released autobiography My Manchester United Years, Charlton can only shake his head at the alarming downturn in English talent.

"If I was a football supporter, paying my money to sit behind the goal, when I looked at the programme I would like to think there would be someone local in my team," Charlton said. "Do I want to just see a list of foreign names? Do I heck.

"This is a big problem now. England are really struggling and it is an important enough issue for some kind of measure to be implemented to stop it.

"I know we are in the European Union and everyone is entitled to freedom of movement but at the very least some kind of special committee should be set up to try to find a solution.

"If you look at it, England probably has two decent strikers and if one of them gets injured, as Wayne Rooney is at the moment, we have nobody else. When you end up in a state like that, you have to sit back and address it."

Charlton is proud of the fact that Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, has maintained a tradition of developing young talent at Old Trafford which dates back to his own era. Yet he acknowledges even United are no longer immune from the foreign invasion.

"We have never, ever thought we would be criticised for playing too many foreign players at Manchester United," Charlton said. "We have always had a nucleus of good young players and good local players, certainly English ones.

"But you reach a point where if it is easier to get players from overseas, that is what you do, even if it is not what you want."

Ferguson's most famous home-grown product was David Beckham and Charlton claims that the midfielder's marriage to pop star wife Victoria has adversely affected his football career. "He was a really great footballer and had a terrific talent but everyone is different and his lifestyle has gone in a different direction.

"When I first saw him, he wanted to be a footballer more than anyone I have ever seen. I wonder sometimes if he thinks what has happened. I would rather he was still playing in England but he is in America [playing for the LA Galaxy] now. He is committed to being there and will earn millions of pounds, so good luck to him."

Charlton is also quick to dispel the belief Beckham was driven out of Old Trafford by Ferguson, even though he admits there were huge differences between the player and his fiery Scottish manager.

"It is true the manager had serious problems with the Beckhams' lifestyle," he said. "Beckham thought that a celebrity lifestyle, being drawn increasingly into the showbiz world of his wife Victoria, was compatible with the regime of a professional footballer. His manager did not.

"But there was never any question of the player being driven out of United. I can say this with great conviction because I saw the contract he rejected when he decided to leave for Real Madrid. It was an excellent, generous offer and certainly did not resemble in the slightest a goodbye note."

My Manchester United Years: The Autobiography by Sir Bobby Charlton is published by Headline