Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager, has warned plans by Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, to impose limits of five foreign players per team would "kill" the English Premier League as the world's best competition.

Currently, the European Union states quotas would breach laws on employment and free movement of labour. But Blatter believes that stance should be challenged "to protect the national identity of the football clubs".

"It would kill the Premier League at the moment for being the best league in the world, certainly," Wenger said. "Why? Because you can see a massive reduction in the quality. If you have the choice between 200 million players or 50 million players, it is less good. It is as simple as that.

"It will protect the bad players, or those who are not good enough. Also, if the best English players play with the best world-class players, then they will be even better and develop quicker."

Wenger has often been criticised for a lack of home-grown talent in his first-choice team - with not one British-born player in the squad for Arsenal's last Premier League game at West Ham, while Englishman Theo Walcott has made just five appearances this season.

However, he concedes the success of the English national team has been affected to some degree by the influx of overseas stars, attracted to the riches on offer.

"English people want a very good national team, but also they are very proud to have the best Premier League in the world. Are they both possible together? I do not know," he said. "Certainly if you educate good young players, then yes. But at the moment, I do not think it is possible."

"But let's not be hypocrites. You have the biggest economical power, and that means you attract the best players in the world. The best players in the world make what? The best Premier League in the world. Who can pay the consequences of it? Maybe the English national team. But that is the rules."

Wenger also staunchly defends his record of bringing home-grown talent through the ranks with David Bentley and Steve Sidwell two of the players who did not make the grade at Arsenal.

"We have developed many good English players - more than anybody else in this country, but they play somewhere else," he said. "Sidwell was here, and he had Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit in front of him and he came to me and said: 'boss, I want to go, I do not play'. They were, at the time, not good enough - but we still have developed them.

"We have developed Ashley Cole, but he plays for the richest club in the country."

Wenger added: "I accept the critics because I cannot say it is not true as it is true. But as well when I built my team I do not look where you come from, I look at who will be the best striker available and I put him in.

"I feel I am responsible for quality, and to develop players - but I cannot say to a player 'you are good enough, but you cannot play because you don't come from the right place'. For me it is not right."

Wenger does not believe implementing a limit on foreigners would necessarily aid England's quest to win the World Cup again either.

He said: "If they get in here, then they must be a world-class player, but it depends on what is your target. If the target is to get past the quarter-final and win the World Cup, do you really think that by playing five more average players you would win the World Cup? I don't believe so.

"You win the World Cup with world-class players. Those world-class players will play at Arsenal, they will play at Chelsea, they will play at Manchester United, they will play everywhere."