Patrick Vieira has announced his support of the controversial proposal from the Football Association to introduce 'B teams' in the future.
FA chairman Greg Dyke revealed his plans earlier this month as part of the governing body's attempts to increase the number of English players appearing in the Premier League, but immediately faced criticism from people involved in the sport.
However, Vieira believes that the proposals must be supported if England are to avoid losing further ground on other countries in Europe.
"It is time for the English game to move forward because we are late compared to the other nations on developing young players," the head of Manchester City's Elite Development Squad is quoted as saying by the Evening Standard.
"The B teams are something we have to do. They're something we have to think about because if we want more English players and to give the national manager a big range of players to choose from then we have to through with introducing B teams."
Brendan Rodgers and Roberto Martinez have both backed the FA's plans.
