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British footballers playing abroad

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  • Carter said:

    Owen Hargreaves learnt his trade in Germany and was brought up in Canada bit like Lewis Holtby doing it in Germany as his father was based there in the forces, both were more of a foreign player being imported than a Brit heading out to make their names

    I'm sure Lewis Holtby has an english dad, but a german mum? If memory serves, he was doing well in the bundesliga, so there were calls from various english journos for the FA to tap him up to commit to england, but he was never really interested as he was just as much german as english, if not more so, as he'd lived there most of his life.
    I seem to remember his dad saying something like "He'll play for England if Germany don't want him." A pretty damning statement on the state of english football that illustrates just how much better than us the german team was.
  • wmcf123 said:

    A couple of the younger English players are out in Germany at the moment. Jadon Sancho joined Dortmund from Man City and Reece Oxford is on loan at Borussia Mönchengladbach.

    Eric Dier was at Sporting Lisbon for a while.

    More need to follow.

    Dier is a Portuguese speaker.

    I think the above point is valid; British people don't tend to speak / pick up other languages and adapt to other cultures well.
    Nonsense. It's about making the effort.
    ://blogs-images.forbes.com/niallmccarthy/files/2016/01/20160113__Living_Abroad_Forbes.jpg

    Worth a look. Maybe it is the money in English football that keeps the players there. But as a country we have one of the largest overseas populations.
  • Carter said:

    Owen Hargreaves learnt his trade in Germany and was brought up in Canada bit like Lewis Holtby doing it in Germany as his father was based there in the forces, both were more of a foreign player being imported than a Brit heading out to make their names

    I'm sure Lewis Holtby has an english dad, but a german mum? If memory serves, he was doing well in the bundesliga, so there were calls from various english journos for the FA to tap him up to commit to england, but he was never really interested as he was just as much german as english, if not more so, as he'd lived there most of his life.
    I seem to remember his dad saying something like "He'll play for England if Germany don't want him." A pretty damning statement on the state of english football that illustrates just how much better than us the german team was.
    Holtby is struggling at HSV. Tries very hard but has little impact and has been left out quite a bit. Maybe the winter break will sort him out but I wouldn't be surprised to see him move on, especially as HSV are struggling for money.
  • Kevin Francis (ex-Stockport giant) is a police officer in Calgary & Gavin Peacock lives over here too - he’s a minister in a local church.
  • Greenwich lad signs for Barcelona, to play in their B team in the second division. Good luck to him.

    Marcus McGuane: Arsenal midfielder signs for Barcelona - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42881783
  • Can any of the more senior people amongst us remember a British guy who played in Holland for many years - scoring a lot of goals - was his surname Clarke?
  • edited January 2018
    http://www.ohl.be/nl/heren/team/293/moore-elliott
    Besides TW, another Brit playing for Louvain
    And last year, John Bostock played for them also (currently playing for French club Lens).
  • skywalker said:

    http://www.ohl.be/nl/heren/team/293/moore-elliott
    Besides TW, another Brit playing for Louvain
    And last year, John Bostock played for them also (currently playing for French club Lens).

    Was Ligue 2 Player of the Year last season

    Wonder if any English teams would be tempted to give him another opportunity over here
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  • skywalker said:

    http://www.ohl.be/nl/heren/team/293/moore-elliott
    Besides TW, another Brit playing for Louvain
    And last year, John Bostock played for them also (currently playing for French club Lens).

    Was Ligue 2 Player of the Year last season

    Wonder if any English teams would be tempted to give him another opportunity over here
    Just realised he is in Turkey now at Bursaspor.
  • skywalker said:

    http://www.ohl.be/nl/heren/team/293/moore-elliott
    Besides TW, another Brit playing for Louvain
    And last year, John Bostock played for them also (currently playing for French club Lens).

    Isnt Pearson their manager
  • Football's last chance saloon - the Britons keeping their dreams alive in Sweden - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43490842
  • LenGlover said:

    Our own Eddie Firmani was a successful early trailblazer in Italy.

    I do realise that he is actually a South African of Italian heritage but he came to the UK and Charlton at 15 or 16 so his football education was British enough.

    I was wondering how long it would take for someone to mention Firmani.
  • In Turin at the moment and the papers are talking about Kieran Gibbs coming here to Torino.
  • edited January 2019
    Samuel Shashoua, on loan from Tottenham, scored his third goal of the season today for Atletico Baleares who are up to third in the Spanish third division. Haven't seen much more about Marcus McGuane, the guy from Greenwich who signed for Barcelona B, but it's definitely good to see more young English players taking up the challenge of playing abroad.
  • se9addick said:

    Seems crazy that a country the size of Spain only supports two nation-wide divisions but it’s probably the norm rather than the exception. The strength in depth of the English league, where you don’t see regional divisions until you get to the sixth tier (and even then you have some big/professional teams) is pretty spectacular.
    Yes - agree it can be surprising but I think most European leagues are regionalised below the second level. There is not much of a culture of supporting your local team here unfortunately: something like 80% of the country identify as either Real Madrid or Barcelona fans even though most don't live in those cities or ever attend games. It's a shame as I quite enjoy the third and fourth levels, although the attendances are very small as are the stadiums (with the exceptions of some big teams that have dropped down there like Racing Santander).

    I have a season ticket at third division Madrid team Union Adarve and they are lucky to get 1000 for home games, though it is a great atmosphere and decent standard. Most people I meet think I am absolutely crazy for watching them, such is the lack of interest in football below the second (and for most, the first) division. Much rather go to watch them than Real Madrid though, and the season ticket was only €50!
  • Interesting stats here for the 2017/18 seasons...

    http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm

    Championship and Bundesliga.2 are the highest second tier Leagues in Europe in terms of average attendance and come 5th and 7th respectively in terms of the overall ranking - Then when you look at League One (18th highest) its only spot behind the Segunda Division yet ahead of both Serie B and Ligue 2

    As for the German Third Division that only just comes in three spots ahead of League Two
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  • This article interestingly discusses the rise in young English players abroad. It's good to see and can hopefully benefit our national team, as well as encourage more young players to take up the challenge of trying their luck in a different country.

    BBC News - Jadon Sancho: Why young English players are in high demand in Europe
  • Ben Wilmot started for Udinese against Juventus tonight, although he's now been subbed off. Good to see another young English player on a big European stage.
  • Ben Wilmot started for Udinese against Juventus tonight, although he's now been subbed off. Good to see another young English player on a big European stage.
    Watford and Udinese is a good example of how a Network can work
  • edited April 2019
    I was at this match at Union Adarve in Madrid a couple of weeks ago when the English goalkeeper Jack Ruddy, on loan from Wolves to San Sebastian de los Reyes, had a crazy end to the game:

    https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/now-believe-god-wolves-loanee-15993016
  • Stephy Mavididi came on for Juventus today. Amazed he's good enough for that level.
  • Vincenzo said:
    Stephy Mavididi came on for Juventus today. Amazed he's good enough for that level.
    Says it all about the level of the other top divisions in Europe
  • Vincenzo said:
    Stephy Mavididi came on for Juventus today. Amazed he's good enough for that level.
    He's not really but was needed to make up the numbers as they rested a ton of players before the Champions league game. 

    Look at Barcelona today, they gave a debut to 4 kids.
  • 2 goals for Sancho today. 
  • BBC News - Daniel Crowley: The ex-Arsenal midfielder out to beat Ajax in the Dutch Cup final
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