British footballers playing abroad
There are a handful who have done well: Beckham, Lineker, McManaman, Bale to a degree (though he never seems to have fitted into the lifestyle). Then for every one of these there is an Ian Rush, Michael Owen or Ashley Cole, who all didn't last long. Who else has done well and who didn't do much in their stints abroad?
It would also clearly be good for the national teams, to have players with more experience of playing in different leagues.
Why doesn't it happen much and will it ever change?
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I’d say that taking Spain as an example.......we have very few players good enough to get a sniff of playing for the top teams.
I’d also say that they are so ridiculously well paid in the PL that they would need to take a hefty pay cut to play outside if the top La Liga sides.
So in summary.....a combination of lack of talent and greed are the main reasons in my opinion.2 -
Language is a factor whereas overseas players often speak English, a lot of our boys don't speak foreign4 -
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. Ravel Morrison is still contacted to Lazio - but he’s never going to sort himself out and is currently on loan to Atlas in Mexico.
Eric Dier was at Sporting Lisbon for a while.
More need to follow.
In the 80s Ray Wilkins and Mark Hateley had spells abroad. And of course Hoddle at Monaco.
Gazza at Lazio in the 90’s.7 -
Dier is a Portuguese speaker.ricky_otto 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.
I think the above point is valid; British people don't tend to speak / pick up other languages and adapt to other cultures well.1 -
It's a shame if language is such a factor. Some players have been able to pick it up well (Lineker and McManaman for example) but some have hardly tried: even after years here Bale hasn't been able to do a proper interview.
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Loan is one thing but going on a permanent deal is another....as is, actually staying around for a long time.
Michael Mancienne gave it a fair go at Hamburg but he ultimately he wasn't good enough for Bundesliga 1.0 -
I think it comes down to money and not just what the players are getting paid but what English clubs can pay for them.
Oliver Burke went to RB Leipzig for a reported £13m after 25 appearances for Forrest then 25 appearances later westbrom pay a reported £15m.
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Probably helped in the 80s by the fact our players were forced to go abroad if they wanted to play European Football seeing that English clubs were banned after Heysel.
Wonder how many would have bothered had that not been the case?5 -
Gerry Hitchens is probably the most successful
Archibald, Keegan and waddle also did well1 -
Also Francis and platt & walker1
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Never heard of Hitchens but impressive statsSheffieldRed said:
Gerry Hitchens is probably the most successful
Archibald, Keegan and waddle also did well
Shame he had such a short England career despite scoring 5-goals in 7-games0 -
Owen is an unfair example i know hr was mostlyvused as a sub but didn't he have a ridiculous goal per minute ratio in spain0
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Paul Lambert won the Champions league with Dortmund and John Collins won the French league with Monaco during the 90's4
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Owen did have a good goalscoring record but he famously never left his hotel room and was completely miserable here. I think a lot of it comes down to personality.
Ones who are well remembered here are Laurie Cunningham and Jonathan Woodgate who despite his ridiculous injury problems became a cult hero. Both embraced the culture and were much happier as a result.3 -
John Charles is one of the best British exports. Wiki says 155 Apps (for Juventus) and 108 goals. That's sensational in any league, let alone in nasty/niggly, conservative Italian football.2
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Jack Harrison, stoke born playing at New York City. Got his first call up for the under 21s in October.0
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Surprised no one has mentioned the legend that is Roger Johnson and his outstanding contribution to football in India10
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I'd love to see more British players having a crack abroad. The reason so many went abroad in the 80s and early 90s was because of the ban on British clubs in Europe as has already been mentioned
One of the reasons we are so tactically inept internationally is because British players generally have no idea of tactics outside of their own game. As an example in Italy youngsters are taught and study what different tactics do and how moving certain players around can affect shape and direction of a game. It's probably why there has been so many very in demand and successful Italian coaches. The same applies in Holland.
The English game is played at such a frenetic pace and has been for years it tends to be foreign players who are able to adapt and understand what a coach speaking another language is telling them to do tactically.
Any number of the glut of decent kids at Chelsea and Man City's player farms should be really pushing themselves abroad, as it is they will stay with those clubs earning very decent money until their contracts expire and having earnt the amount they will have done I doubt will be very motivated to up sticks and move to enhance themselves. Shame, because I think it would help the national side out enormously.
Des Walker, Chris Waddle, David Platt, Paul Gascoigne, Glenn Hoddle, Mark Hately, Gary Lineker, David Beckham, Mcmanaman have all done well abroad but I am led to believe they all embraced life in a different country.
Andrea Pirlo mused in his book how he would have loved to play in Spain because of the players he would have been alongside and how he would enjoy riding his bike along a Spanish coastline.
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Look mate, the entire Scottish team could play for Real Madrid and they still wouldn’t get to a World Cup.cafcdave123 said:Paul Lambert won the Champions league with Dortmund and John Collins won the French league with Monaco during the 90's
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Ashley Cole in his prime would've lasted much longer. His performances for England, Arsenal & Chelsea were pretty consistent against foreign opposition over the years.CharltonMadrid said:I would love to see more British players giving this a go, especially here in Spain. Why do people on here think British players abroad are such a rarity? Money, the culture, other reasons?
There are a handful who have done well: Beckham, Lineker, McManaman, Bale to a degree (though he never seems to have fitted into the lifestyle). Then for every one of these there is an Ian Rush, Michael Owen or Ashley Cole, who all didn't last long. Who else has done well and who didn't do much in their stints abroad?
It would also clearly be good for the national teams, to have players with more experience of playing in different leagues.
Why doesn't it happen much and will it ever change?0 -
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Ashley Cole never let England down in a game. His penalty against Italy didn't impress me but he is hardly the first Englishman to choke from 12 yardsStefco said:
Ashley Cole in his prime would've lasted much longer. His performances for England, Arsenal & Chelsea were pretty consistent against foreign opposition over the years.CharltonMadrid said:I would love to see more British players giving this a go, especially here in Spain. Why do people on here think British players abroad are such a rarity? Money, the culture, other reasons?
There are a handful who have done well: Beckham, Lineker, McManaman, Bale to a degree (though he never seems to have fitted into the lifestyle). Then for every one of these there is an Ian Rush, Michael Owen or Ashley Cole, who all didn't last long. Who else has done well and who didn't do much in their stints abroad?
It would also clearly be good for the national teams, to have players with more experience of playing in different leagues.
Why doesn't it happen much and will it ever change?
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Couple more who went abroad, Mark Hughes was at Barcelona with Lineker, Joe Jordan was at AC Milan.0
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A young Arsenal kid (Willock) refused a new deal there and joined Benfica in the summer. Not sure he's played a game yet though, but perhaps with the likes of him and Sancho moving, there's a growing realisation from these kids that it's better to go abroad than play reserve and FA Youth cup games, so maybe more will follow.
But in the past i think it's come down to mainly money. Look at Josh McEachran, he turned down Real Madrid to stay at Chelsea and was given a 5 year, 30k a week contract when he'd barely played a first team game.0 -
Ian Rush's famous quote 'Playing for Juventus was like playing in a foreign country'.
There is a language problem, a lot of British players have trouble speaking English!!!
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Here's an interesting current one - Jamie Lawrence . I know his Dad, Steve, he is the architect who is digging away at the Olympic Stadium scandal. The family has been living for a while in Amsterdam, and he is an Ajax youth product. He is now in Slovakia with Trencin. His Dad says that having tasted European football, he wants more of that, so an English club is way down his agenda. I have never seen him play, pretty sure Steve said he is a striker, but that does not seem to be the case.
Knowing his old man, I would guess that Jamie is a pretty smart cookie, and is definitely good with languages, has picked up some Slovak. So not the average footballer, but not the average family background either.1 -
No-one mentioned Hargreaves at all?0
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Yes Jack Hargreaves was always Out of Town.4
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Lloyd Sam and BWP are still going strong In the states.0
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Looking at those stats, if he's a striker then he's not a very good one.PragueAddick said:Here's an interesting current one - Jamie Lawrence . I know his Dad, Steve, he is the architect who is digging away at the Olympic Stadium scandal. The family has been living for a while in Amsterdam, and he is an Ajax youth product. He is now in Slovakia with Trencin. His Dad says that having tasted European football, he wants more of that, so an English club is way down his agenda. I have never seen him play, pretty sure Steve said he is a striker, but that does not seem to be the case.
Knowing his old man, I would guess that Jamie is a pretty smart cookie, and is definitely good with languages, has picked up some Slovak. So not the average footballer, but not the average family background either.0
