Michel Platini has publically criticised English soccer club Arsenal for recruiting young stars from around Europe to join the club's academy.

Platini, who says clubs with significant debts will be banned from Europen competition from 2012, says he hopes that new Uefa rules will force Arsenal to work with English youth rather than recruiting from around the continent. Arsenal's captain, Cesc Fabregas, was signed from Barcelona at the age of just 16.

"You have talent in England – it's up to you not to buy always the best 13-14 young players in Europe," said Platini in an interview with the Daily Telegraph newspaper. "I am not in favour of the Arsenal system. The more English youth players you have in your team, the better it is for your football and popularity of your game.

"Perhaps, in the future with Fifa rules on the transfer of minors, you have to work with English youth. Why can't the English play for Arsenal? They have to come to France to play. It's about identity."

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Platini's words are likely to anger Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger, who has spoken out about the dual restrictions that would be placed on English clubs with Uefa's new rules. English clubs are already restricted by the FA from recruiting young players who live more than 90 minutes travel from the club.

"We are being rewarded for our youth policy over the years, but with the new rules coming in, it will make that policy virtually impossible," said Wenger, after Arsenal's young players beat West Bromwich Albion in the League Cup in September.

"If you cannot add any players under the age of 18, and on top of that English clubs are limited to bringing in young players who live less than 90 minutes from the training ground, how can we produce home-grown players? It's vital that this rule is not implemented because English clubs would have a domestic limitation and a foreign limitation, making it harder to produce home-grown players.

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"In England we accumulate disadvantages. We cannot buy outside our 90-minute radius. We cannot take a player from Asia, North or South America, Africa, Serbia or Croatia, who are not EU."