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English ones are becoming rarer still.

While there is no shortage of top talent in the premier league, most of the loud-mouths ranting and raging between the posts are shouting in foreign accents while fewer home-grown goalkeepers are making the step up.

The situation, with an apparent shortage of successors to follow in the international footsteps of greats such as Gordon Banks, Peter Shilton and Ray Clemence, is beginning to cause concern at top level.

"We have to realize that we have to develop goalies better than just expect them to grow on trees," says Clemence, who won 61 caps for England between 1973 and 1983 and who is now England's goalkeeping coach.

Take any top match and the odds are that one, if not both, of the "safe pair of hands" comes from overseas.

Only seven of the 20 regular first choice 'keepers in the premiership are English and only two -- Leeds United's Nigel Martyn and Liverpool's David James -- are at clubs with a Top 10 placing. All but two are over 30 years old.

That, however, does not include league leader Aston Villa, which has Englishman Michael Oakes in goal while Australian regular Mark Bosnich recovers from injury.

Martyn is 32, a year older than Blackburn Rovers' Tim Flowers and three younger than Arsenal's David Seaman.

Sheffield Wednesday's Kevin Pressman is 30 and Nottingham Forest's David Beasant is 39.

That leaves James, 28, and Derby's 26-year-old Russell Hoult as the youngsters. And their places are not secure.

Experienced Estonian international Mart Poom has swopped the No. 1 shirt with Hoult over the last two seasons, while James has only just re-asserted himself over American Brad Friedel at Anfield.

The statistics make young English goalkeepers look an endangered species, particularly when Seaman's understudy at Arsenal is young Austrian Alex Manninger and Flowers' is Australian John Filan.

Whereas in the past an England goalkeeper would inevitably have been found plying his trade at a top club, coach Glenn Hoddle this month called up under-21 goalkeeper Richard Wright from first division Ipswich Town.

Martyn played in goal in the friendly against the Czech Republic but Wright's first cap may not be far off.

Clemence has been singing Wright's praises while also warning that England faced a potential talent shortage.

"When Peter Shilton and I were playing there were another seven or eight goalkeepers in the old first division good enough to represent England," he added.

"There are not the same number of quality English goalkeepers between the ages of 20 and 30."

Foreign goalkeepers used to be a rarity in England, even after overseas players first started to filter in. Former German prisoner-of-war Bert Trautman, who played on with a broken neck for Manchester City in the 1956 F.A. Cup Final and was England's Player of the Year that year, was an exception.

However, Clemence insisted there was no cause for serious concern since goalkeepers' careers last longer.

"Look at the Dino Zoffs of this world and the Peter Shiltons," he said. Both played well into their 40s with Italy captain Zoff winning the World Cup as a veteran.

"Tim (Flowers) and Nigel (Martyn) are 30 and 31 so its not a crisis by any stretch of the imagination."

Clemence, who has files on every English keeper in the league, now spends much of his time scouting around the lower reaches to keep an eye on the youngsters.

"I watch three or four games a week, looking at the lower divisions a lot because that's where most of the English goalkeepers are," he said. There is not much point in the premier league.

Manchester United has, for the time being, Denmark's awesome Peter Schmeichel between the posts.

Schmeichel, probably manager Alex Ferguson's greatest bargain when he was signed from Brondby of Denmark in August 1991 for 550,000 pounds ($911,800), announced on Nov. 12 that he would be leaving at the end of the season.

Although the club has not named a replacement, despite media speculation over former United player Bosnich, the odds seem heavily tipped towards another foreigner.

Cost is one big reason, with top English goalkeepers expensive in comparison with cheaper, more experienced imports.

Everton recently signed English teenager Steve Simonsen from Tranmere Rovers as reserve for Norwegian Thomas Myhre but Simonsen, 19 and an undoubted future England prospect, still cost it 3.0 million pounds ($5.0 million).

Middlesbrough this month tied down 25-year-old Australian Mark Schwarzer, signed in 1997 for 1.25 million pounds ($2.0 million), to a new 6 1/2-year contract.

Charlton, among the premiership paupers, could not contemplate that kind of outlay. It has have Yugoslav Sasa Ilic, who came to it via non-league soccer, in goal instead.

West Ham, which had French international Bernard Lama briefly last season, now has Trinidad's Shaka Hislop with Canada's Craig Forrest in reserve. Neither cost big money either.

"A lot of people are brigning in foreign goalkeepers and getting them a bit cheaper," observed Ipswich's Wright, who has 2 1/2 years left on his contract and who joined his promising club straight from a local school.

By ALAN BALDWIN, Reuters