Each A-League clubs can have up to five foreigners on its roster.

But ex-Newcastle Jets and Perth Glory midfielder Wehrman believes having that many foreign players at each club is hurting Australia's youth development by reducing the number of opportunities for local talent.

"Having five visa players is way too many," he told FTBL. "That's half a team. That's hurting us as well.

"We've got to drop at least two of them, we only need three visa players. That's what they had in Europe for a long time, until they opened the borders right up. We're not at that stage right now where we can afford to let our youth drop behind the ball.

"There's a lot of foreigners getting all the spots, so I think three is more than enough. You don't always get the best foreigners, a lot of them are coming in past their use-by date."

Wehrman says some foreign players have been a hit in the A-League, but others have not provided value for money.

"Some of them have been worth it just for marketing reasons, the Del Pieros, there's others there where you could have got a good Scandinavian player that's still at the peak of his career that could earn as good money playing in Australia," the 42-year-old said.

"And be happy to live in the sun and the beach. Newcastle had Mario Jardel... he could still head a ball and that was about it. There's been some misses and hits."