Caribbean football officials may be working on a plan for a regional super league but Jamaican-born former Liverpool winger John Barnes believes the islands of the region would benefit more from encouraging young players to head to Europe.
CONCACAF has set up a task force to look into creating a multinational Caribbean league with some officials talking of the league being up and running in 2016.
But former England international Barnes, who lived in Jamaica until he was 13 and who coached his homeland's national team between 2008 and 2009, is sceptical.
"A pan-Caribbean (league) is going to be a bit of a problem because you are talking about the logistics of travel," Barnes told Reuters in an interview at the Soccerex Americas Forum.
"It is difficult to implement in one particular country with the level of investment needed from companies to sustain, pay and maintain the players enough for them not go abroad.
"Then you are going to have fly teams from one country to another which can be a four or five hour flight from Jamaica to Trinidad. Is that feasible?"
Barnes believes there should be a system in place to help promising youngsters join European clubs.
"What we do need to do is empower and develop football here by helping young players to achieve their dream," Barnes, who made his name at Watford before moving to Liverpool, said.
"Does that mean developing a league or creating ties with teams in Europe where you can have a feeder system and get your young players to go there?
That probably for me would be a better way because the younger you can get Caribbean players to the top teams in Europe, the better that would be, not for the league, but for the national team."
Barnes cited the example of Ghana and the Ivory Coast whose national teams have grown in strength thanks to players such as Didier Drogba and Michael Essien moving to Europe.
"Do you want to develop a good league or have a strong national team? I don't think you can actually do both in developing football countries," said the 50-year-old Barnes who made 79 appearances for England.
Barnes believes the Caribbean teams have suffered from the success of Central American nations such as Honduras and Costa Rica, who qualified from CONCACAF for the 2014 World Cup along with Mexico and the United States.
"I think that the Caribbean can be strong. I think it is really the re-emergence of the Central American countries that has really made it hard for them. But if you look at Trinidad and Jamaica they are doing well," Barnes said.
Barnes said he would relish a chance to coach in the region again. "I would love to coach. If an opportunity came, I would definitely look at it."
