ALAN Curbishley believes that the strength of the Premier League is making it more difficult for managers to bring through young talent.

The West Ham boss went against the grain when he handed 18-year-old Academy boy Freddie Sears his debut against Blackburn on Saturday and was rewarded as the striker grabbed the winner.

However, Curbishley (pictured) insists that blooding such youngsters in the senior side is becoming increasingly problematic.

"I was not afraid to put the young players in at Charlton, but the strength of the Premier League makes it very difficult for kids to get in now," he said.

"We all want to finish as high up as we can, so when will these young kids get a chance?

"Some Premier League sides take the opportunity in the cups to give their players a go.

"However, this year we attacked the cups with our strongest side available because we thought they were competitions we could do well in."

Sears is likely to be included in the Irons 16-man squad again for the trip to Everton tomorrow.

And he could soon be joined by fellow youngsters James Tomkins and Jack Collison in making a full debut.

The trio have all impressed while training with the first team in recent months and Curbishley insists it is just about finding the right window of opportunity to give them their chance.

"The three of them have been around us for a while, and they are just waiting to get the 90 minutes," he said.

"I have said for the last couple of weeks I have wanted to introduce one or two of them, give them a taste of it, so I will now pick and choose the games which I think are right.

"We have got eight games left and I will try to integrate a few of them and see how they shape up."