Was Fabio Capello Right to Snub England's Youngsters' Semi-final Clash?

Much has been made of Fabio Capello's decision to attend a charity golf event in Marbella rather than watch England's under-19 team lose - to Spain - in the European Championship semi-finals.

The Italian, it seems, does not regard overseeing youth development as one of the duties that comes with his £6 million salary, almost £500,000 of which has been paid into his bank account since England's inglorious World Cup exit in South Africa.

Or, perhaps he has already made up his mind about Noel Blake's squad, having arranged for Everton's Jack Rodwell, Phil Jones of Blackburn and Arsenal's Jack Wilshere to be moved up to the under-21s instead of competing in Normandy.

The Spanish won 3-1 in Saint-Lo to go head to head with hosts France in the final on Friday night. The victory was deserved but Blake insisted his boys had always tried to play the game the right way.

"I suppose you could say we failed trying to do the right things," he said. "But I would rather do that than go down the other route. It's not my decision whether these lads go on but they have shown enough promise to stay in the system. I can't answer questions on Fabio's behalf but I think the lads did well."

So, the question is a straightforward one: Is Fabio right to give up on the Class of 2010?

On the face of it, his absence from the tournament appears to be an obvious dereliction of duty on the Italian's part. Even if he had identified just one player with a chance of progressing to the senior squad, it would have been a worthwhile trip.

Or he could have watched how Blake was able to get his players to abandon the rigid 4-4-2 system of English football if the circumstances demanded. Perhaps he would have gained an insight into how the Spanish are able to bring technically-proficient youngsters through the system, with Real Madrid having just paid Racing Santander £5 million for playmaker Sergio Canales.

But there is an argument that the record of the current England youngsters vindicate Capello's apparent lack of interest.

The under-19s won one, lost one and drew one to scrape through the group stage, requiring a late equaliser from Matt Phillips in their final game to make sure they were not pipped for a place in the last four by Austria. Phillips plays his football in League Two for Wycombe Wanderers.

The fact that a squad comprised mainly of teenagers at Premier League clubs needed a lower-league colleague to bail them out at the last minute surely says much about the state of the English game in 2010.

But Phillips is also the most experienced member of the pool when it comes to first-team football - by a considerable margin.

Only defender Nathaniel Clyne of Championship outfit Crystal Palace comes even close to his accumulation of more than 80 senior outings. Of the Premier League players only two - Aston Villa's Nathan Delfouneso and Frank Nouble of West Ham - have actually featured in that competition. And only the latter has ever started.

Capello may have got it spot on therefore. The class of 2010 may have plenty of potential but it looks like going unrealised as the boys at Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs are continually passed over for foreign imports in the Premier League.

Plenty of those top-flight players have already gone down the pyramid on loan in search of experience but if the current trend continues then England will find themselves in the same boat as many of the smaller nations, whose top players hardly feature for their clubs and the others are so far down the food chain they are easy prey for the bigger fish.