England won the Under-17 and Under-20 World Cups in 2017 and are European champions at Under-19 level.
And now talented kids in search of first-team action are quitting England to try their luck in Germany.
The biggest to take the plunge was Jadon Sancho who left Manchester City 18 months ago to sign for Dortmund and is now regarded as one of the hottest young prospects in world football.
Sancho,18, has blazed a trail for other English kids to join the Bundesliga – Reiss Nelson is on loan at Hoffenheim from Arsenal, Emile Smith-Rowe has gone to RB Leipzig on loan, and Reece Oxford is at Augsburg.
Bayern Munich had three bids rejected by Chelsea for winger Callum Hudson-Odoi last month.
And with Sancho and Nelson going head-to-head this weekend, the spotlight is firmly on the progress of all English youngsters looking to make a mark in the Bundesliga.
And the Dortmund sporting director Zorc puts their rapid rise down to the heavy investment in Premier League academies.
He said: “There was a lot of discussion here, ‘it’s all about money you know, it’s too early for them to go from Germany to England.’
“But, in the meantime we have the feeling that, yes, the education and development of youth players in the English academies is quite good, to be honest.
“The teams don’t only spend much money on transfers or salaries but also on infrastructure.
“When you see these youth academies – for example Man City – you can’t compare it with the German standard. It’s much higher, much higher.
“It seems to me that it’s something like a business model for them because even if they don’t succeed in their own teams they sell them for higher prices.
“I just read a figure of Man City – I think they’ve sold young players for more than 150 million within the last three or five years. You can recognise it also in results."
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