With Marcus Rashford set to join Spanish giants FC Barcelona, now feels like a better time than ever to look into the sheer amount of British players currently plying their trade away from England.
Although British players have played abroad for a long time – Jimmy Greaves played for AC Milan back in 1961 – it is much more normalised now than it used to be.
For example, when David Platt signed for Bari in 1991, many people have said that the reaction was “oh wow, an English player abroad”. Fast forward to 2023, and most people expected Harry Kane to land at Bayern Munich if he was going to leave Spurs.
Even when David Beckham joined Real Madrid in 2003, it came as a surprise to many, despite his global superstar status. He eventually won league titles in Spain, the USA and France.
The biggest compliment you can pay to the likes of Jude Bellingham and Kane is that they feel part of the furniture. You see Bellingham playing for Real Madrid in the same way you see Kylian Mbappe playing for them – something expected for a worldwide star.
Likewise with Kane at Bayern, it’s the same as someone such as Alphonso Davies playing for the Bavarians – expected. Whilst a fine player himself, someone like Conor Gallagher garners a reaction more so like “Still really cool and interesting that an Englishman is playing for Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid.”
At first, it will feel like that with Rashford at Barcelona, but it wouldn’t be surprising if by the end of the season, we see it as far more normal, and not just because we’ll be used to it, but also because he will have done well for the Catalans.
As of last season, there were 18 British players playing in Serie A. The most notable of all was Scott McTominay, who scored 12 league goals to fire Napoli to their fourth Scudetto.
He was accompanied in Naples by compatriot Billy Gilmour, whose impact was not the same, but he played his part during the final couple of games in the absence of Stanislav Lobotka.
Other Scots over in Italy include Che Adams – who scored nine goals and provided three assists for Torino – and Lewis Ferguson, who recovered from an ACL injury to captain Bologna to their first trophy in over 50 years, with a 1-0 win over AC Milan in the Coppa Italia final.
Funnily enough, Milan have been perhaps had the most English players of all overseas club. Fikayo Tomori started the final, whilst Kyle Walker and Tammy Abraham came off the bench, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek an unused sub. Even USMNT international Yunus Musah played for England at youth level.
Although, having signed for Burnley, Walker will not be in Serie A next season, Scot Josh Doig will be evening out the British representation, after his Sassuolo side won Serie B. He had previously represented them and Hellas Verona in Serie A before last season.
Over in France, England U21 hero Jonathan Rowe signed for Marseille last summer, and he will now be joined by U21 team mate CJ Egan-Riley who has recently joined the club from Burnley on a free transfer.
Furthermore, he will also be joined by Angel Gomes, who has signed on a free transfer after leaving fellow French side Lille. Elsewhere in Ligue 1 is another U21 key player in Charlie Cresswell, who is currently playing for Toulouse – and has been linked with a move to the Premier League.
Looking across Lee Carsley’s winning squad sees Brooke Norton-Cuffy who is another player playing in Italy, at Genoa. We have also seen Jarrell Quansah join Bayer Leverkusen on a permanent transfer from Liverpool this summer.
He will not be the only Englishman in Germany. As we all know, Kane is over there, Jobe Bellingham has just joined Borussia Dortmund, and Ricky-Jade Jones has just joined St.Pauli, where he will link up with compatriot Oladapo Afolayan.
So, perhaps Rashford is joining the top 5 league with the least English players. It is understandable – with English spoken less in Spain than any of the other countries. It will do the forward no harm at all having an English speaking coach in Hansi Flick.
In fact, from what we can see – at least in terms of first team players – Conor Gallagher of Atletico Madrid, and Jude Bellingham and Trent Alexander-Arnold of Real Madrid are the only other English players in the league.
Still, it is pretty cool to have at least one player playing for all of the top 3 sides in Spain. It will make the games between the sides even more interesting next season.
