This weekend Gareth Southgate will take the opportunity to attend two games in the space of a few hours, making the short journey from Wembley to Watford.
He will do so as part of what is becoming an increasingly difficult search for the endangered species that is otherwise known as the English Premier League footballer.
Southgate has already noted the drop in the number of English players now commanding a starting place in their club sides in the top flight. He pointed out only two weeks ago that it was down to an all-time low of a fraction over 30 per cent.
So the England manager now needs to leave what promises to be a fascinating encounter between Tottenham and Liverpool on Saturday and see how a Watford side that has started the season so impressively fares against Manchester United.
It does make sense when he might actually get the chance to see young players of the quality of Will Hughes and Nathaniel Chalobah in action. Certainly a more worthwhile exercise, say, than watching Chelsea.
So far this season only one English player has started for Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea side, and only in two of the four Premier League games they have contested at this early stage of the season.
But it is two more starts than the one Chelsea player who is in this England squad, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek limited to just two appearances as a substitute; with one of them rather curiously as a late replacement for Ross Barkley.
While Southgate has ignored Barkley on this occasion, Loftus-Cheek has kept his place and understandably so after making a significant contribution at the World Cup in Russia.
But when Southgate bemoaned the fact that he was picking players for this friendly contest with Switzerland because some of them needed precious minutes on the pitch they have struggled to secure with their clubs, he did so with individuals like Loftus-Cheek in mind.
The 22-year-old midfielder should be admired for backing himself to break into the Chelsea team this season rather than spend another season on loan. But coming on in two games, in the 68th minute in one and the 79th minute in another, would suggest his ambition is not going to be realised any time soon when Sarri has such strength in depth in midfield.
If he wants to remain central to Southgate’s plans, Loftus-Cheek might have to think seriously about moving away from Stamford Bridge again if things don’t change. Especially when the England’ manager is unlikely to tolerate his exclusion at Chelsea for too long when he made the point only recently that it sometimes up to the player to take responsibility for how much first team football they are getting; a view echoed on Tuesday night on television by Jamie Redknapp and Jamie Carragher.
Loftus-Cheek might have expressed little desire to return to Crystal Palace for another season but how bad would it be? The 25 appearances he made were enough to get him on the plane to Russia and it would have been an awful lot more had he not been sidelined as much as he was by injury.
And at Selhurst Park he also had a manager who believed in him; who wanted him to play; who told this newspaper during the World Cup that Loftus-Cheek’s combination of power, pace and skill was perhaps even superior to someone of the stature of Michael Ballack. As a former England manager, Roy Hodgson could certainly see why Southgate had taken something of a gamble by naming the youngster in his World Cup 23.
On Tuesday night, however, Loftus-Cheek looked pretty much as you would expect him to: like a player who needed games, who lacked sharpness. His touch was heavy, his timing slightly off. When he caught Remo Freuler with a late challenge he was lucky to escape censure.
For Southgate it must be slightly frustrating, because there is no doubting Loftus-Cheek has potential. He might not be Paul Gascoigne. Last week Southgate suggested England have not had another Gazza, who happened to be here last night, in his lifetime.
But what Hodgson said could perhaps give Loftus-Cheek the edge over a player even of Ballack’s considerable talent was the ability to beat an opponent with the ball at his feet and only if this young English footballer plays regularly is he going to develop into such a competitor.
Here in Leicester a player in desperate need of game time was hooked after 61 minutes and replaced by Jesse Lingard, which should really tell Loftus-Cheek all he needs to know.
