Ronald Koeman has claimed that English managers are afraid to give young players regular first-team football.

The Dutchman has started 18-year-old Tom Davies in 13 of Everton's past 14 Premier League games, while teenager Ademola Lookman and 20-year-olds Mason Holgate and Dominic Calvert-Lewin have also featured regularly.

"I see differences in how I like to give young players a chance maybe more than the English managers," Koeman told Sky Sports News. "They are afraid. I am not afraid to put young players in.

"I know in English football people say you have to look out for young players, that maybe they say they can play 15 or 20 games, not more. But I am not afraid - maybe they are.

"It is all about the talents of the young players. If they have the ­talent you have to give an opportunity. If they don't have the talent then you have to look ­elsewhere.

"If I have a second centre-back and he is 20 and I think he can do the job, then I don't sign a centre-back as a third option. My young boy is my second option. It's the way I like to work. I am a ­manager who is giving young players a chance when they deserve it."

Everton currently sit seventh in the Premier League table and travel to West Ham United on Saturday.